Azernews.Az

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

The volume of Azerbaijan’s non-oil exports increased by 5 percent year-on-year in the period of January-February to reach $296 million, local media reported referring to the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication on April 2.

During the reporting period, the bulk of exports fell to raw cotton - $29.9 million (an increase of 15.4 percent), gold - $27.3 million (an increase of 35.1 percent), tomato - $24.7 million (an increase of 38.8 percent), refined hazelnut - $22.2 million (a decrease of 10.1 percent), electricity - $17.8 million (a decrease of 41.6 percent), polypropylene - $14.5 million (an increase by 6.6 percent), persimmon - $14.1 million (a decline of 19.4), computing machines and parts for their blocks - $11.5 million (an increase of 115 times), polyethylene - $8.3 million (a decrease by 44.7 percent).

The five leading countries that imported Azerbaijani non-oil products in the reporting period are:

Russia - $88 million (an increase of 7.4 percent); Turkey - $75.3 million (an increase of 18.5 percent); Georgia - $34.9 million (a decline 5.7 percent); Switzerland - $28.8 million (an increase of 39.8 percent); China - $ 7.6 million (an increase of 20.6 percent).

Russia accounted for 29.7 percent of the export of non-oil products.

It should be mentioned that Azerbaijan's non-oil exports totaled $1.9bn in 2019.

Earlier, the government informed that it plans to allocate $11.8 million to promote the country's non-oil exports in 2020. Azerbaijan’s non-oil industry is expected to demonstrate an 8.8 percent growth in 2020.

According to the estimates by the Ministry of Economy, by 2024, non-oil exports of Azerbaijan will exceed $3 billion.

The steps made for diversification of the economy and the state program “Socio-economic development of regions of Azerbaijan in 2014-2018” made a huge contribution to the non-oil sector, because the main potential for production of non-oil products is concentrated in the country’s regions.

In addition, the opening of Azerbaijani trade houses abroad and organizing export missions to foreign countries to promote the Made in Azerbaijan brand in foreign markets have helped to develop the share of non-oil products in the structure of the country’s exports.

Furthermore, the increasing number of plants operating in the non-oil sector promises very good prospects for Azerbaijan to diversify its economy, reduce oil and gas dependency and increase the inflow of foreign currency into the country.

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