How much did Uzbeks spend on “fancy” license plates in 2023?

Over 87,000 license plates were purchased in Uzbekistan during 2023 via online auctions, as per the announcement from the Republican Commodity Exchange's press service.

The total worth of the sold license plates amounted to 396.1 billion soums, with the highest-priced plate, deemed as the most aesthetically appealing, fetching 450 million soums and being acquired by a legal entity.

The second highest-priced plate in the auction went for 439.56 million soums, also purchased by a legal entity. Among the top five costly plates, three were acquired by individuals, priced at 399.6 million, 395 million, and 378.18 million soums, respectively.

Between January 29 and February 4 of 2023, Uzbeks spent 18.8 billion soums in the auction for license plates.

For context, in 2022, 50,777 ZZ license plates were auctioned online, garnering 669.6 million soums.

To recall, in 2021, a license plate was sold for nearly 600 million soums for the first time, initially priced at 111,500,000 soums upon its release on December 14, 2020.