Azerbaijan to export 50,000 tons of date until end of March

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan is one of the major producers and exporters of date. The dates are grown mainly in Goychay, Balakan, Agjabadi and Ganja.

Date holds a major share in the export of non-oil products of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan will continue to export dates to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates by the end of March, Chairman of the Date-plum Producers and Exporters Association Gadir Yusifov told Report.

He noted that currently, 50,000 tons of dates are stored in refrigerators, which will be exported until the end of March.

So far, Azerbaijan has exported dates to CIS countries, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as well as some Arab countries. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan intends to export dates to Poland.

In 2017, the growth of date production in Azerbaijan was noticeably high. Thus, the export value of the date was $ 20.9 million that is 32 percent more than in the previous year.

In 2017, the revenues from date export to the state budget amounted to $ 100 million. Approximately 90 percent of the product is exported to the countries such as Russia, Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic States, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. At the same time, 10 percent of the date is being realized in the domestic market, which fully meets the needs of the population

In total, the export of dates last year has not exceeded 180,000 tons.

Azerbaijan Date-plum Producers and Exporters Association was established in 2017 to increase the number of date gardens, expand date production and maximize exports. The annual production capacity of the association is 6,000 tons and export capacity is 5,400 tons.

In January-November 2018, $ 89.1 million of date was exported.

The date is a Chinese-born fruit specie grown mainly in subtropical climates in the world. Approximately 70 percent of the world's 4 million tonnes of grape production appeared in China. A significant amount of dates are produced in Korea, Japan, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Italy, Israel, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

Dates are beneficial in treating blood shortages, vitamin deficiency, and gastrointestinal disorders, strengthen the immune system. It also plays an important role in fight against the spread of cancerous diseases.

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