In 2009, the Uzbekistan Cotton Industry Association will invest US$30 million to renovate 10 seed cotton processing plants. The funds will mainly be used to purchase medium-staple cotton processing equipment and lint automatic weighing systems. The purpose is to modernize the cotton of 10 enterprises. The yield rate is increased by 1-33.2%, and the raw material processing cost is reduced by more than 20%.
According to Uzbekistan’s official statistics, Uzbekistan produced 3.4 million tons of seed cotton in 2008, a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%; and produced 1.174 million tons of lint cotton, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%. 95% of Uzbek cotton is medium-staple cotton with a fiber length of 32-33 mm, and the rest is long-staple cotton with a fiber length of 36-39 mm.