Uzbekistan resumes gold export with $1.5 billion through April

Uzbekistan, one of the world’s largest gold producers, has resumed full-scale gold exports in April after a half-year pause.

The nation exported about $1.5 billion of non-monetary gold in the first four months of the year, the National Statistics Committee reported Tuesday, indicating that most of it was sold in April.

The country, which mines about 130 tons of gold a year, effectively stopped exports after September, while its central bank emerged as one of the world’s biggest buyers of the precious metal.

Yellow metal exports were zero in January and February this year and totaled just $30 million in March, according to earlier reporting. At the same time the central bank’s reserves fell by about 100,000 troy ounces in April, signaling sales, according to reserve statistics disclosed on May 8.

Uzbekistan’s exports resumed even as the US-Israel war with Iran weighs on the global economic outlook, though Central Asian economies have so far appeared relatively resilient to the shocks.

Gold remains a key buffer for Uzbekistan’s economy and a major source of export and budget revenue. The metal’s prices hit a record this year and averaged about $4,800 per ounce this year.

Russia, another major global gold producer, has also accelerated its gold sales.

(By Yuliya Fedorinova)