Azerbaijan's industrial production reaches 20 bln manats

By Aynur Jafarova

The total volume of Azerbaijan's industrial production reached 19.8 billion manats in January-July 2014.

This figure is 2.1 percent less compared to the same period of last year, the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan said.

"The non-oil sector of Azerbaijan in this period showed an increase of 4.4 percent, oil sector decreased by 2.7 percent compared to the same period of 2013", the committee said.

The volume of production in the mining industry exceeded 13.3 billion manats with specific weight of 72.5 percent in the whole industrial production in the reporting period, which is 2.6 percent less than the same period of last year.

Oil production in January-July 2014 amounted to 24.9 million tons and natural gas production reached 10.7 billion cubic meters. Oil production saw a 2.2 percent decrease compared to the same period of 2013 while gas production increased by 4.6 percent.

The volume of production in the manufacturing industry amounted to 4.3 billion manats in the first seven months of this year, which is 2.5 percent less than the same period of last year.

Production, distribution and supply of electricity, gas and steam amounted to 5.3 percent of the total volume of industrial production, while water supply, treatment and recycling of waste products reached 0.6 percent.

Earlier the Statistics Committee said the total volume of investment made in Azerbaijan's industrial sector amounted to 3.58 billion manats in January-June, which is 6.9 percent more compared to the same period of 2013.

Some 2.95 billion manats of these funds was invested in the mining industry, and this figure is 30.1 percent more than compared to the same period of 2013.

The investment made in production, distribution and supply of electricity, gas and heat in the first half of 2014 amounted to 140.9 million manats, which is 16.2 percent more than the same period of 2013.