For many years, the Central Asia Region has been using palm oil. Prior to 2020, Malaysia was a leading exporter of palm oil to Uzbekistan. But today the main quantities of products containing palm oil come from Russia - the country firmly established itself in the leading place. Russian group of companies EFKO is a leading exporter of specialty fats to Uzbekistan. The company made good use of the logistic difficulties in China.

Starting from 2020 Malaysian exporters began to face serious logistic difficulties. In view of current uncertainties there is no secure or guaranteed line for deliveries of oil palm products. Uzbekistan switched imports away from Flexis in favor of railway tanks. This was a new trend set by the Russian suppliers - cheaper, faster, no risk of getting stuck on the border. Substantial difference in import tariffs provide trade preferences to Russian suppliers over all others including Malaysia and Indonesia. Russian exporters pay 0% import duty when supplying palm oil to Uzbekistan, while Malaysian suppliers have to pay 100 USD import duty per each metric ton being imported to Uzbekistan.

The unequal import conditions made Malaysian companies less competitive and opened the way to big Russian suppliers like EFKO Group. Starting in 2020 Russian companies were taking control over the market rapidly. By the end of 2020 Russian share reached 39% (up from 4% in 2017) while Malaysia went down to 48% (down from 84%). In 2021 Malaysia’s share went down even deeper.