Research · Updated: October 12, 2026 · 8 min read

AGMK tenders: half of 2026 winners had never won there before

Between 4 August and 9 October 2026, Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AGMK, Olmaliq KMK) put 62 lots up on the UZEX e-procurement platform: 58 separate procurements worth about UZS 277 billion (roughly $23 million at the lot-card rate of UZS 11,898 per dollar). Bidders most often get just 7 days to apply. And this is a customer you can reach as a newcomer: half of the companies that won AGMK contracts in 2026 had never won there on this platform before.

We look at what the combine buys, under which rules, where it publishes AGMK tenders and how a small firm can avoid missing its lot. The figures come from lot pages on etender.uzex.uz and the open UZEX register of deals; Tanlo data as of 12 October 2026.

Why AGMK is a special customer

JSC Almalyk MMC (in Uzbek, "Olmaliq kon-metallurgiya kombinati", taxpayer ID 202328794) mines and processes copper, gold, silver and zinc across four regions and employs about 35,000 people. The state owns almost 99% of its shares (according to the shareholder register as of February 2025). That makes AGMK a corporate customer (a company with 50%+ state ownership), so it buys under the Law "On Public Procurement" and through the exchange.

There is a lot of procurement because the combine is building. In March 2026 the first phase of copper concentrator No. 3 was launched at the Yoshlik-1 deposit, a $2.7 billion project. Earthworks and drilling are already under way on the site of the next concentrator.

What AGMK bought in two months

Most of the money goes on machinery and spare parts for open pits and underground mines, design and earthworks, and services. The largest lots of the period:

Foreign-currency lots are converted at the rate shown on the lot page: UZS 11,898 per dollar and UZS 13,336 per euro.

The currency trap. The catalyst lot page shows "810 000". That is not sums but 810 thousand dollars, almost UZS 10 bn. Check the currency first, then the number.

Are there smaller lots? Yes: 8 of the 58 procurements were below UZS 500 mln. They include industrial safety reviews (from UZS 70 mln), overhaul of compressors (135.5 mln), pressure gauges (174.1 mln), drilling a water well (256 mln) and a detailed power supply design (336 mln). There is a way in for a firm of 10–30 people.

The rules: selection, 7 days, lowest price

61 of the 62 lots are a selection of the best offers (otbor), a simplified competitive procedure; one is a tender. The law allows a corporate customer to run a selection as long as the purchase does not exceed UZS 11 bn (25,000 times the BRV, the base calculation amount, which is UZS 440,000 from 1 September 2026). Above that, it is usually a tender. We explained how the procedures differ in the article "Auction, tender, selection and e-shop".

• Bidding window. In 35 of the 60 lots where both dates are known, it was exactly 7 calendar days. The rules require at least five working days, so AGMK often gives close to the minimum. It was never shorter than seven days, and 6 lots were extended.
• How the winner is chosen. In 53 lots, by the lowest price among bidders that pass the technical check. In 9, by points, and in every case 70% of the score is technical (experience, specialists, licences, equipment) and 30% is price. Points are used mainly for design work and feasibility studies, and for drilling and blasting.
• Bid deposit. 3% is stated in 15 lots, all of them in foreign currency. In UZS lots the amount field shows 0, even though the page says "deposit required", so check the amount in the lot documentation. The deposit is released after the contract is signed.
• Advance and payment. 40 lots have no advance, 20 have 15%, one has 30% and one 50%. Payment terms are most often 10 or 30 days. In 23 of the 25 foreign-currency lots it is "payment on delivery": you will have to buy and ship the goods with your own money.
• Bidder checks. In all lots: resources to perform the contract, legal capacity to sign it, no tax debts, no bankruptcy, no debts under enforcement orders and no entry in the register of unscrupulous contractors.

The contract with the winner of a selection is signed within ten working days.

Who wins at AGMK

According to the open UZEX register of deals, from January 2022 to 9 October 2026 AGMK concluded 1404 deals (status "accepted by the winner") with 394 suppliers.

The picture is two-sided. There is a core: 28 companies with ten or more deals each account for 712 of the 1404 deals, mostly suppliers of spare parts and equipment. But the market is not closed: in 2026, half of the winners came to AGMK for the first time and took almost half of the deals. One caveat: "for the first time" means the company had no deals with AGMK in the UZEX register since 2022. These are not necessarily young firms; some may be large dealers. More on competition in tenders in our study "Who wins tenders in Uzbekistan".

One more figure: since the start of 2025, 18 AGMK deals carry the status "rejected by the supplier". A winner who walks away from the contract risks 2 years in the register of unscrupulous contractors and, in lots with a deposit, losing the deposit too. Do your pricing before you bid, not after.

Where AGMK publishes its procurements

1. etender.uzex.uz, the e-procurement platform of UZEX (Uzbek Republican Commodity Exchange): selections and tenders. Most lots are here, and these are the ones we analysed above.
2. agmk.uz, "Tenders" section: requests for TKP (preliminary technical and commercial proposals). This is not yet a procurement but market research: AGMK states plainly that it collects TKPs to estimate the cost of a future tender. For example, on 19 May 2026 it asked for TKPs with a cost estimate to be emailed by 25 June. The same section has the procurement plan, the list of imported products and the internal procurement procedure.
3. The e-shop xarid.uzex.uz: small catalogue purchases. How it works is covered in our article on xarid.uzex.uz.

Those who respond to a TKP request learn about the future lot earlier than others, and their price becomes one of the reference points for the starting price. A TKP gives no advantage in the bidding itself. An underpriced TKP can push down the lot's starting price, and you will be the first to feel it.

Checklist: how to start supplying AGMK

1. Respond to TKP requests on agmk.uz. Send them only to the @agmk.uz addresses given in the notice on the combine's own website: emails "on behalf of AGMK" from other addresses are a red flag.
2. Get ready before the lot appears. An electronic digital signature (EDS), UZEX registration, no tax debts, licences (for design and drilling and blasting work they earn points), copies of similar contracts.
3. Pick a niche. Spare parts for specific machinery (BelAZ, Cummins, underground loaders, crushers, filter presses), industrial safety reviews, design, drilling: lots like these recur.
4. Read the technical specification, not just the title. In points-based lots, 70% of the score is technical. In price-based lots, a bid without supporting documents for each item of the specification will not even reach the price comparison.
5. Check the currency and payment terms. No advance and payment in 30 days means you need your own working capital for the full volume. How to calculate it is covered in "How much money you need for a tender".
6. Catch the repeats. AGMK re-announces failed or cancelled lots at the same price, sometimes the very next day. That is a second chance for those who missed the first one.
7. Hear about lots on the day they are published. With seven days to bid, every day counts. Tanlo gathers AGMK lots from UZEX and notices from agmk.uz into a single feed and sends new ones to Telegram, for example via the "Industrial equipment" or "Transport and vehicles" filters.

How we counted

Lots: Tanlo database, customer "АО OLMALIQ KON-METALLURGIYA KOMBINATI" (taxpayer ID 202328794) on etender.uzex.uz, published from 4 August to 9 October 2026, 62 notices. Terms (method, scoring, deposit, advance, payment, currency, deadlines, status) were taken from UZEX lot pages on 12 October 2026. Repeats are re-announcements after cancellation or failure with the same subject and the same starting price (4). Foreign-currency prices are converted at the rate on the lot page. Deals: open register of completed deals on etender.uzex.uz, Tanlo download of 11 October 2026; status "accepted by the winner" means a contract was signed, not that delivery was completed. Deal amounts in the register are given in the contract currency without stating it, so we do not add them up. "For the first time" means the company has no earlier deal with AGMK in the register since 2022. Legal basis: Law ZRU-684 (Articles 19, 48, 56, 64), Cabinet Resolution No. 276 (paras. 15, 78, 103), Presidential Decree UP-115, Presidential Resolution PP-4812 as amended by Decree UP-85.

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