Uzbekistan will establish a dedicated project office under the government to oversee the country’s ferrous metallurgy sector, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced during a meeting on the industry’s development.
The new office is expected to begin operations within one month. In addition, an electronic platform, E-lom, will be launched at the beginning of August to monitor the circulation of ferrous metals across the country.
The project office will conduct daily analysis of the steel market, compile data on supply and demand for raw materials and finished metal products, and maintain digital passports for metal products. Through the E-lom platform, all transactions involving ferrous metals will be tracked in real time.
According to the government, the new measures are designed to promote fair competition, stabilize prices and strengthen oversight of the steel sector by increasing transparency throughout the supply chain.
Officials also highlighted the importance of improving scrap metal collection. The Bekabad Metallurgical Plant currently produces around 40% of its rolled steel using recycled scrap, while the remaining 60% relies on imported raw materials. Each year, the plant receives approximately 700,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap, but an estimated additional 500,000 tonnes remains outside the formal market, circulating through the shadow economy.
The government expects that tighter monitoring and digital tracking will help bring more scrap into the legal supply chain, reducing reliance on imports and improving raw material availability for domestic steel production.
