New Blue Ocean! Analysis of Central Asian Lighting Export Market

Central Asia is the birthplace of the initial proposal for building the "Belt and Road" and an important demonstration zone for high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road". In recent years, with the continuous deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and the five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), bilateral trade volume has steadily expanded. Especially in areas such as infrastructure connectivity, municipal construction, and housing development, cooperation has strengthened. The advancement of major projects like the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway has brought long-term and stable market demand for Chinese-made products, including lighting products. In 2025, the value of goods trade between China and the five Central Asian countries reached a historic high of $106.3 billion, a Year-on-year (YoY) increase of 12%, marking the first time China became the largest trading partner of all Central Asian countries.

Map of the five Central Asian countries

Schematic diagram of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway

(Image from the internet)

Against this backdrop, the export of China's lighting products to Central Asia has experienced rapid development. In 2025, the export value of China's lighting products to Central Asia was approximately USD 1 billion, with the export scale remaining at the third-highest level in history. From an overall trend perspective, the local market has shown some new changes and characteristics.

I. Leveraging Silk Road cooperation to achieve leapfrog growth in lighting exports to Central Asia

Since the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed in 2013, with the boost of policy coordination and infrastructure connectivity, China's lighting product exports to Central Asia have shown a significant upward trend overall. Export value increased from approximately $300 million in 2016 to about $1 billion in 2025 , representing a cumulative increase of 229% ; its share of China's total lighting product exports rose from 0.6% to 2% . During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, cumulative exports of lighting products to Central Asia reached approximately $5.2 billion, marking a substantial 175% increase compared to the "13th Five-Year Plan" period , setting a new historical record. This fully demonstrates the great potential for cooperation between both sides and the practical results of China's diplomatic philosophy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness towards neighboring countries .

II. Some lighting products show strong export performance to Central Asia

• 灯具类产品：光伏LED及其他电灯照明装置、非光伏LED其他电灯照明装置等出口量保持小幅增长，同比分别提升3%和2%。非光伏LED探照灯和聚光灯更是实现出口量与出口额“双增长”，增幅分别达到62%和20%。

  
  

• Electric light source products: LED modules exports reached a new record high of 320 million units, with a significant year-on-year (YoY) increase of 67%. LED tubes continue to be popular in the Central Asian market, achieving "three increases" in export volume, value, and average price in 2025, with year-on-year growth of 2%, 6%, and 4%, respectively.

III. Central Asian market demonstrates price resilience

Against the backdrop of generally承压 (pressure) on global lighting product export unit prices, China's lighting product export unit prices to Central Asian markets in 2025 showed clear resilience. In 2025, among all 59 HS tariff codes for Chinese lighting products exported to Central Asia, the export unit prices of 35 tariff codes declined Year-on-year (YoY), demonstrating better resilience than the overall trend of China's lighting product exports (in 2025, the export unit prices of 45 lighting product tariff codes from China's exports declined Year-on-year (YoY)).

It is worth noting that for some high value-added categories, the price advantage of exports to Central Asia is even more prominent. The average export prices of five categories of LED luminaires exported from China to Central Asia, including LED fixed luminaires and LED light strings, remain higher than the global average export prices for products in the same category . This indicates that relevant products possess certain competitiveness or a differentiated positioning in the Central Asian market.

Overall, China's lighting product exports to Central Asia have entered a phase of structural adjustment and intensified competition following a period of high-speed growth. Short-term fluctuations do not alter the fundamentally positive long-term trend. Enterprises should proactively adapt to market changes, optimize product structures, enhance technical content and brand value-added, and avoid falling into homogeneous price competition. At the same time, actively leverage the "Belt and Road" cooperation mechanism and policy benefits to deepen regional market布局，thereby achieving steady and sustainable development in this highly promising Central Asian market, continuously consolidating and expanding the comprehensive competitiveness of Chinese lighting products.

The Central Asian region has a large population and continuously upgrading infrastructure, creating stable and diverse demand for lighting products. Within this region, Uzbekistan, with its outstanding advantages, is becoming the 'golden entry point' for Chinese lighting enterprises to expand into the Central Asian market. As the most populous country in Central Asia (with over 30 million people), Uzbekistan not only has a large domestic market base and significant consumption potential but also serves as a natural hub radiating to neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan due to its central location in Central Asia . In recent years, rapid urbanization, deepening energy reforms, and policy dividends from national development strategies have continuously released upgraded demand for lighting products. For the Chinese lighting industry, Uzbekistan is not only an important terminal sales market but also a trade and logistics bridgehead facing the entire Central Asian region; it is the right time to 'move westward'.

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At the same time, Association will also organize professional visit groups , welcoming enterprises interested in inspecting Uzbekistan and Central Asia to contact for consultation.

Exhibition Inquiry & Registration:

China Association of Lighting Industry Exhibition Information Department

Contact: Mr. Yan, Ms. Sun

Contact: 010-65135873 / 15810990628 (WeChat same number)