Azerbaijan's exports hit $10.6bn in 2020

3 November 2020 16:59 (UTC+04:00)

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By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of Azerbaijan’s export amounted to $10.6 billion, including $1.3 billion in the non-oil sector, during the first nine months of 2020, the Center for Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication of Azerbaijan reported in its “Export Review” for October.

During the reporting period, non-oil goods worth $485.9 million were exported to Russia, $252 million to Turkey, $166.1 million to Switzerland, $99.6 million to Georgia and $33.4 million to China.

In the list of non-oil goods during the reporting period, tomatoes rank first with $167.8 million, followed by gold with $150 million and cotton with $82.7 million.

Moreover, during the first nine months of 2020, export of fruits and vegetables amounted to $402 million, cotton fiber to $83.9 million, aluminum and its products to $73.7 million, chemical products to $60.3 million, ferrous metals and its products to $38.2 million, plastics and its products to $122.4 million, cotton yarn to $12 million, alcoholic and soft drinks to $9 million, sugar to $12.4 million, vegetable oil to $17.3 million, and tea to $6.7 million dollars.

Furthermore, export in the non-oil sector amounted to $129.5 million in September 2020. The share of food products in the non-oil sector was 30.5 percent, while in the non-food sector 74.2 percent. In addition, the share of food products in total export increased by 3.9 percent compared to the same period of 2019.

Top five countries in terms of non-oil and gas products export in September were Russia with $35.7 million, Switzerland with $27.8 million, Turkey with $25.1 million, Georgia with $7.6 million and Iran with $6.9 million. In addition, the largest amount of export accounted for gold with $25.8 million, followed by electricity with $9.3 million and hazelnuts with $8.3 million.

Likewise, Export Review provides information on the export of services.

Thus, during the first nine months of the year, Azercosmos exported services worth $30.9 million to 30 countries, which is by 2 percent more than in the same period last year. It should be noted that the company’s revenues from export amounted to 89 percent of its total revenues. In addition, in September, the company exported services worth $522,000 to 11 countries. The main countries to which Azercosmos exported its services were U.S., UK, France, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

Additionally, the volume of transactions carried out by foreigners on bank cards in Azerbaijan amounted to AZN 25.6 million ($15M) during the period of January-September 2020.

The “Export Review” also provided information on export orders received by Azexport.az portal during the reporting period. Thus, during first nine months of the year, the portal received export orders for $462.4 million. In addition, the volume of export orders received by the portal in September was $33 million, which is by 6 percent more than during the September 2019. It should be noted that during the period of January 2017 to September 2020, the portal received orders worth $2.4 billion from 142 countries.

Moreover, the value of on-oil exports through the Single Window Export Support Center amounted to $15 million in September 2020. In addition, during the period of January-October 2020, the Single Window Export Support Center issued relevant export certificates to hundreds of entrepreneurs, resulting in non-oil export worth $148.6 million.

It should be noted that the purpose of "Export Review" is to familiarize entrepreneurs with export issues, expand opportunities for exporting local goods to traditional and new markets and accelerate the process of integration into international markets.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad