By Kamila Aliyeva

Singapore's Indorama Corporation will invest $ 335 million in the creation of modern cotton and textile production in Uzbekistan.

The government of Uzbekistan issued a resolution “On measures to create modern cotton-textile production by Indorama (Singapore) in the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

According to the document, the company in 2019-2023 will send $ 225 million of direct investment in the cultivation of raw cotton, corn, or another crop on the basis of crop rotation.

Another $ 115 million will be invested in the organization of deep processing of raw cotton and the production of cotton yarn during the implementation of the second phase of the project.

According to the resolution, the company will receive 50,000 hectares of land in the Kashkadarya and Syrdarya regions. In the second stage, the company will receive land in the Fergana and Jizzakh regions.

Indorama Corporation is one of Asia’s leading chemical holding companies. Today based in Singapore, its origins trace back to 1975 with the start of Indo-Rama Synthetics in Indonesia. Indo-Rama Synthetics started as a yarn spinning company and manufactured cotton yarns in its early days. During the 1990s, the company diversified into the production of synthetic spun yarns and polyester fibers.

Currently, Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth-largest cotton producer among 90 cotton-growing countries.

In Uzbekistan, about 3.5 million tons of raw cotton are produced annually. The country produces about 1.1-1.2 million tons of cotton fiber annually, which accounts for about 6 percent of global cotton production. About 50 percent of the cotton fiber produced is shipped for export.

One of the policy priorities of Uzbekistan is further development of its textile industry. Uzbekistan takes consistent steps to increase the volume of cotton fiber processing.

In the period 2010-2014, the textile industry of Uzbekistan received and spent foreign investments worth $785 million while 147 new textile enterprises with participation of investors from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Turkey and other countries were commissioned. Export potential of these enterprises amounted to $670 millions.