The central Asian republic of Uzbekistan is set to overtake Ukraine to become the largest consumer market in the Commonwealth of Independent States within the next decade. Little more than a basket case economy since President Islam Karimov clamped down on foreign exchange in 1996, the source of most of the Soviet Union’s cotton has begun to flourish.

The only one of the five so-called ‘stans’ to share a border with all the others, its 27m strong population is the largest in the region, making it a natural production and distribution centre. An increase in real disposable income in recent years, albeit from a low base, has stimulated consumer markets across the board. Official data shows that real disposable income increased by 20 per cent in 2006 and by the same amount in 2007: Gross domestic product per capita is now $2,300 on a purchasing power parity basis and is fuelling a shopping binge. Car sales doubled between 2005 and 2007. Mobile penetration is the fastest growing in the CIS growing from just 1.5 per cent in 2005 to more than 35 per cent in August 2008. And the 20 per cent increase in imports in 2007 was in part due to rising imports of consumer products.