In the first quarter of 2011 foreign trade turnover reached US$1.2bn, an increase of 10.3% compared with the year-earlier period. Exports rose by 5.2%, to US$442.2m, but this was outpaced by a rate of growth of 11.7% in imports, which took the total to US$761.5m, largely because of higher prices for imported commodities. The trade deficit therefore widened to US$319.3m, compared with US$262.6m in January-March 2010. The effect of global price trends on the Kyrgyz Republic's foreign trade balance can be seen the data for petrol imports, which fell in volume terms by 16% year on year, but rose by 1.3% in value terms. A similar effect is observable with regard to imports of wheat, which dropped by 13.5% year on year in volume terms but more than doubled in terms of cost.

Exports to other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) rose by 36% year on year, to US$114.5m, offsetting a decline in exports to non-CIS markets of 2.5% (this was largely owing to lower gold production). Imports from the CIS declined, however, by 2.1% year on year, which is likely to be the result of higher tariffs on imports from Russia, following the introduction of a customs union comprising Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus that raised tariffs for countries outside the union. Imports from outside the CIS rose by 34.7%, owing to higher global commodity prices. This meant that the Kyrgyz Republic ran a trade deficit both with its CIS and non-CIS trading partners. Traditionally it has run a surplus on non-CIS trade, owing to the sale of gold (its main export product) to Western markets.