According to the Center for Economic Research and Reforms, mutual trade among Central Asian countries increased by 26.3% in January–August 2026 compared with the same period of the previous year, reaching USD 9.4 billion. The calculation is based on the sum of each country’s exports to the other countries in the region. This method avoids double-counting the same transaction as one country’s export and another country’s import. Exports to regional markets increased in all five countries during the reporting period.
Kazakhstan remained the region’s largest exporter, with shipments to other Central Asian countries rising by 28.5% to USD 5.3 billion, accounting for 56.3% of regional exports. Uzbekistan’s exports grew by 37.5% to approximately USD 2.4 billion, representing around 25% of the total. Together, the two countries accounted for more than 81% of regional exports and 93% of the overall increase during the period.
Despite the expansion in mutual trade, its structure remains concentrated around the region’s two largest participants. This indicates that growth in total regional trade does not necessarily mean that trade relations are developing evenly across all countries. Assessing the depth of economic integration therefore requires looking not only at total trade volumes but also at how trade flows are distributed among regional partners.
