Azerbaijan's exports hit $13.7bn in 2020

1 February 2021 11:02 (UTC+04:00)

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By Ayya Lmahamad

The volume of Azerbaijan’s exports amounted to $13.7 billion, including $1.9 billion in the non-oil sector in 2020, the Center for Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication of Azerbaijan reported in its “Export Review” for January.

Non-oil exports decreased by 5.2 percent or $102 million compared to 2019.

During 2020, non-oil goods worth $691 million were exported to Russia, $377.8 million to Turkey, $224.8 million to Switzerland, $127.6 million to Georgia and $44.5 million to China.

In the list of non-oil exports last year, gold ranks first with $205.6 million, followed by tomatoes with $201.4 million and cotton with $131.9 million.

Moreover, exports of fruits and vegetables amounted to $607.7 million, cotton fiber to $133.2 million, aluminum and its products to $113.4 million, chemical products to $85.2 million, ferrous metals and its products to $52.4 million, cotton yarn to $19 million, alcoholic and soft drinks to $12 million, sugar to $26.9 million, oils to $24.7 million and tea to $9.5 million.

It should be noted that exports of fruits and vegetables increased by 0.3 percent, oil by 34 percent, sugar by 0.1 percent and cotton fiber by 7.5 percent compared to 2019.

In December 2020, exports in the non-oil sector amounted to $213.5 million, which is an increase by 23.1 percent compared to 2019. In addition, the share of food products in the non-oil sector was 34.4 percent, and in the non-food sector 65.6 percent.

The top five countries in terms of non-oil and gas products export in December 2020 were Russia with $62.8 million, Turkey with $57.3 million, Switzerland with $23.5 million, Georgia with $10.7 million and Uzbekistan with $7.6 million. In addition, persimmon ranked first in the non-oil sector export in December 2020, with $26.7 million, followed by gold with $21.9 million and cotton with $21.3 million.

Moreover, the review notes that the volume of transactions carried out by foreigners on bank cards in Azerbaijan amounted to AZN 27.9 million ($16.4M) in 2020.

The "Export Review" also provides information about export orders received by Azexport.az portal in 2020. Thus, during the last year, the portal received orders in the amount of $610.8 million. In addition, the volume of export orders received by the portal in December was $57.5 million. It should be noted that during the period of January 2017 to December 31 2020, the portal received export orders worth $2.1 billion from 142 countries.

Additionally, the value of non-oil exports through the Single Window Export Support Center in January this year amounted to $8.8 million. In 2020, the value of goods exported through the Single Window Export Support Center was $182.8 million.

"Export Review" aims 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