The Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan has proposed to abolish cement import benefits, which were introduced in January 2018.

The government suggested that the abolition of the benefits will lead to more efficient production of building materials, create a competitive market and increase domestic production, according to Esmerk CIS News.

Uzbekistan’s leading supplier of imported cement is Kazakhstan, which in November supplied 1500t of cement.

As of April 2019, cement plans were under construction in Angren and Samarkand - with the latter project representing a US$420m Chinese investment. Start of production is scheduled for mid-2020.