Tajikistan Faces Export Slowdown in Textile and Yarn Sectors

Tajikistan’s exports of light industry products totaled $100 million in the first half of 2025, reflecting a significant decline of $61.2 million compared to the same period last year.

The drop primarily impacted key categories such as cotton fiber and yarn production, The Caspian Post reports via Tajik media.

Imports of garment products also fell by 18.7 per cent, decreasing to $15.9 million from $19.6 million during the corresponding period in 2024.

However, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, domestic production within the light industry sector showed growth. Excluding cotton ginning plants, enterprises produced goods valued at 1.73 billion somoni ($185.484 million) from January to June 2025, representing an 8.4 per cent increase (24.5 million somoni or $2.626 million) compared to the previous year. The sector also saw the establishment of 32 new enterprises, creating 173 jobs.

Key growth areas included cotton fabric production, which rose by 4.2 per cent to 14.5 million square meters; school uniform manufacturing, up 5.1 per cent to 1.3 million units; carpet production, which surged by 30.6 per cent to 3.7 million square meters; and leather processing, growing 13.3 per cent to over 330,000 pieces.

Exports of garment products to the EU, Russia, and Belarus reached 1,331 tons valued at $15.9 million. Although the volume was down from 1,604 tons in 2024, export revenues increased by $2.8 million.

Meanwhile, production of cotton fiber and yarn declined to 10,970 tons and 9,000 tons respectively. The ministry attributed this decrease to weakening external demand and the low competitiveness of domestic products in international markets.