12.08.2022

On August 12, a videoconferencing on metallurgy development was held at the Uzbekistan Metallurgical Plant.

This plant has been the only ferrous metallurgy enterprise in the country for many years. Due to the reforms over the last five years, there have been created 200 new enterprises. More than 25 thousand people are employed there. Last year alone, the industry manufactured products worth 16 trillion Uzbek soums. The manufacture of iron and iron products increased to 1,8 times and exceeded 2 million tons.

At the same time, the scale of creative work and industrialization is growing. Today, all industries use 4 million tons of ferrous metal per year. In particular, in the prime cost of housing construction, the share of costs for metal products is 15%, and in mechanical engineering 40%.

According to the estimates, the demand of the Uzbek economy for metal will reach around 6 million tons by 2026. In addition, the difficult situation in the global economy, the breaks in logistics chains create difficulties for the activities of large metallurgical enterprises.

The President emphasized that the goal can be achieved only through the accelerated development of our metallurgical production. In this regard, four main tasks are identified.

The first is the guaranteed supply of raw materials to metallurgical enterprises. The second is the stimulation of establishing the metal production enterprises in all regions. The third is the production of modern metal structures for industries, creating high added value. The fourth is the training of qualified personnel, the development of science and innovation.

Advisor to the Prime Minister B. Islamov noted that the iron ore reserves in the country amount to 1 billion 200 million tons.

The Advisor reported on the work carried out at the new mines, including the Tebinbulak deposit in the Karauzak district.

The need for the development of enterprises in the industry and the organization of industrial clusters on their basis was emphasized.

The President talked with the heads of such enterprises in the regions. The responsible officials were instructed to study proposals on exemption from customs duties of the imported metal raw materials and equipment not produced in Uzbekistan, simplified issuance of employment visas to the foreign qualified specialists.

In the third direction, the task was set to localize products worth $500 million next year. The responsible officials reported that 204 project proposals had been developed for this. It has been determined that a guaranteed purchase of new localized products by state enterprises will be introduced to support this direction.

In order to develop education and science in the sphere, the President proposed to establish a Scientific Center for Metallurgy at “Uzmetkombinat”, a scientific laboratory for ferrous metals at the Geological University, as well as to open the technological parks at the Navoi Mining and Technology and Tashkent Technical Universities. The need for advanced training of young specialists in prestigious foreign companies and engineering centers was also emphasized.

The videoconferencing was attended by khokims (governors) of regions, teams of mining and metallurgical plants, entrepreneurs and foreign partners.