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President — on measures to support the leather industry and sericulture in Uzbekistan
On May 10, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on the development of the leather and silk industries, as well as ensuring employment of the population.Last year, the volume of production in the leather industry reached almost 3 trillion soums. However, half of this volume fell on the Andijan and Ferghana regions. Karakalpakstan, Bukhara, Jizzakh, Surkhandarya and Khorezm, which harvest a significant amount of leather, have low production rates, the head of state said.
The industry's exports are dominated by primary products, the share of finished products is only about 30%. The volume of leather processing is also insufficient, the possibilities of livestock clusters are not fully used, he pointed out.
Therefore, the activities of the Uzcharmsanoat association are planned to be changed and assigned to the Halyk Bank industry. Together with the khokims of the regions, it is planned to develop projects worth $ 100 million in small leather industrial zones.
Leather clusters will appear in Sharaf Rashidovsky and Akhangaran districts. 40 million dollars in the form of "cheap resources" will be allocated for the construction of wastewater treatment plants and buildings. It is planned to involve foreign brands producing products made of natural and artificial leather in the projects. For this purpose, compensation of up to 30 thousand dollars of expenses of enterprises for sourcing services will be arranged.
Low-interest loans will be allocated to livestock clusters for the purchase of forage crops and pedigree cattle.
As for the silk industry, a cluster system has been introduced in this direction in recent years. 74 sericulture clusters and 11 enterprises for the production of grain have been organized. The area of mulberry plantations has been increased from 40 thousand to 55 thousand hectares. As a result, the volume of production of silkworm cocoons increased 2.5 times and reached 26 thousand tons, the export of silk products tripled.
However, as the President noted, silkworm cultivation and disease protection technologies are not sufficiently developed. As a result, losses in obtaining cocoons are relatively high.
Raw materials still form the basis of the industry's exports. In this regard, the need for in-depth processing of cocoons and increased production of finished products, fabrics and home textiles was emphasized. This should help to take a place in the European market, which accounts for 45% of global imports of silk products.
The most urgent problem in sericulture remains the food supply. To solve this problem, it is necessary to expand the planting of new high-yielding mulberry varieties. It is also possible to create an additional source of feed by planting mulberries in one or two rows along the edges of cotton fields, the president said.
The khokims were instructed to organize new mulberry plantations on an area of 105 thousand hectares. These lands will be divided into plots and provided to the public through an auction, at which the initial price of the plot will be set at 10% of the cost. Unemployed citizens, including women, will take short courses in monocenters and sericulture clusters.
The low purchase price for cocoons did not arouse the interest of the population. Therefore, the president signed a decree to increase the purchase price by 25%. At the same time, silk growers are exempt from income and social taxes, and a tax rate of 10% is set for mulberry plantations.
The Agency for Quarantine and Plant Protection has been instructed to deliver castor seeds and silkworms feeding on its leaves for testing at the Institute of Sericulture. This method of growing silkworms is widely used in China.
For carpet production, the centralized purchase of polypropylene will continue and funding will double from $ 9 million to $ 18 million. Taking into account the time before receiving foreign currency earnings, entrepreneurs will be provided with polypropylene for up to one year (now from 3 to 6 months).
After hearing the problems and proposals raised by entrepreneurs, the President instructed responsible managers to assist entrepreneurs in obtaining certificates to enter European markets, attract foreign specialists, ensure access of domestic leather, carpet and silk products to trading houses abroad, organize training of qualified mid-level personnel and others.