Uzbekistan has planned to start exporting ecological dyes for the textile industry. The scheme is set to be implemented by Indikim Group Company based in the Tashkent province of the country. The project for exporting dyes was launched back in 2014 after state joint stock company O’zbekyengilsanoat signed a memorandum with South Korean company Rainbow. The memorandum states that Rainbow will extract natural ecological dyes from agricultural plants for their use in the light industry in Uzbekistan and other countries. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1 million. Close to 80 per cent of the dyes produced in the country will be exported, according to Uzbekistani media reports. A wide range of powder and natural food dyestuffs are slated to be manufactured. Rainbow is providing equipment and laboratory to facilitate production. The method for obtaining ecological dyes will be the same as the technology used in South Korea. Trial plantings for paints were done in 2014 in various provinces in the country and the dyes of various colours including red, green, yellow and blue (indigo) colours were extracted in October. In the spring of 2016, Test seedlings were planted on 45 hectares of land in the country. Rainbow will also set up a research centre to issue certificates of products’ safety for the textile industry. Indikim Group had participated in the International Russian Federal Textile Exhibition Textillegprom 2016 in Moscow and signed various agreements with Russian textile companies for supplying ecological dyes.
