The hackberry has been grown for a long time in arid countries; these trees are also loved in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Crimea, where they are used to landscape villages and cities and to build field protective belts. It is often called “stone tree” for its hard, strong, heavy and dense wood. The hackberry has strong and elastic wood; in the past, it was used for various household needs, woodwork items and decorative products.

The plant also contains glycosides, carbohydrates, polysaccharides, fatty oils, vitamin C and citric acid. The leaves were used for feeding livestock, sometimes silkworms. The bark contains 8-12 per cent of tannins, and this property was used in handicraft tanning and fabric dyeing in the past.