Kazakhoil is, however, politically well connected and so receives little, if any, government criticism. Uzbekistan's trade problems are larger, as they involve both exports and imports. Uzbek trade controls are very strict on paper, but they are undermined by a system of low domestic prices and multiple exchange rates. In the case of the cotton industry, which is riddled with dishonesty and double-dealing, the issues arise at both the local and governmental levels. Every year a substantial part of the cotton crop is stolen and smuggled abroad.
Farmers lie to provincial officials, who in turn lie to the central government in Tashkent.
Unsurprisingly, declared cotton production in Uzbekistan is falling steadily. Whereas from 1991 to 1995 the average annual crop was 4,176.2 million tonnes, in 1996 to 2000 the annual average was 18.1 percent lower at 3,420.4 million tonnes. Some of this fall is due to the government's failure to reform the agriculture sector. The rest - in particular in Dzhizak and Syrdarya provinces, according to the IMF can be attributed to light fingered farmers and officials withholding cotton and then selling it for their own benefit in Kazakhstan. Cotton fraud is something of a tradition in Uzbekistan.