Azernews.Az

By Rasana Gasimova

Azerbaijan provides good trade and logistics opportunities due to a number of transport projects implemented in the country in the past years.

The Caspian Sea corridor is an attractive element for international trade logistics, and especially for the grain market, Alexander Korbut, Vice President of the Russian Grain Union said during the 11th Global Grain Outlook International Grain Trading Conference held in Baku on October 24.

Korbut said that over the past year, the attitude of trade participants to Trans-Caspian routes has significantly changed. Adoption of an interstate Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea has particularly contributed to this.

At the same time, the countries are paying attention to new ports, such as the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat settlement and the Kuryk port being built in Kazakhstan’s Aktau city, as well as the availability of new domestic routes, for example between the mentioned ports and Turkmenbashi Port in Turkmenistan, the vice president noted.

“China wants to reorient its cargo flow from the Central Asia-Iran-Turkey-Europe route to a more direct corridor. The country might make a passage through the Trans-Caspian corridor”, Korbut added.

This is also facilitated by the development of railway infrastructure in Central Asian countries, for example, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and the laying of railways to Ferghana city in Uzbekistan, the vice president said.

Speaking at the conference, Taleh Gasimov, director general of the Karat Holding agro-industrial company, said that the Azerbaijan's grain market’s main feature has relatively small consumption volumes. Touching upon the flour market, Gasimov stressed that during the first years of independence, Azerbaijan imported most of the flour from Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

“After 1997, The agricultural reforms being implemented in Azerbaijan and the policy of import substitution contributed to the creation of private flour mills producing flour by mixing imported and local wheat in the ratio of 75 to 25 percent,” Gasimov said.

Speaking at the event, Farid Hasanov, the Astara Grain Terminal’s operations manager said that the terminal will begin operations by August.

Hasanov said that the terminal’s throughput capacity will reach 500,000 tons per year. He added that it is planned to reach throughput capacity of up to 1 million tons per year by 2021. The terminal capacity for one-time grain storage will be 60,000 tons, the manager noted.

As to tariffs, Yasanov noted that the tariff policy of the terminal is under development, but assured that prices will be lower than in Russian terminals.

Hasanov said that Iran, as well as Egypt and Turkey, are consistently among the top three exporters of Russian grain.

“Because Iran is always among the top three exporters of Russian grain, the western branch of the North-South corridor should provide direct rail links through the Samur border crossing with further access to Iran, to Rasht and Qazvin cities,”. “This corridor will correspond to logistics requirements for Russian and Kazakh grain exports more than the current river-sea route,” he said.

Speaking about the advantages of transporting grain through Astara city, Hasanov noted that the prices on rail transit is much cheaper than on road and sea routes. In particular, Azerbaijan provides 50 percent discounts on transit to Iran.

The 11th Global Grain Outlook International Grain Trading Conference in Baku is organized by the Russian Grain Union, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), the Russian Export Center and the Federation of Iranian Food Industries Associations.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz