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Analyst: Azerbaijan has sufficient food stocks

17 March 2020 16:15 (UTC+04:00)
Analyst: Azerbaijan has sufficient food stocks

By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijan has a stable food balance and the food market situation in the country is satisfactory,Managing Director of Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of Azerbaijan (CAERC) Vusal Gasimli told local media on March 17.

Explaining the current situation in the country’s food market, Vusal Gasimli emphasized that according to the reports of reputable international organizations, Azerbaijan's food security index has substantially increased in recent years. In this regards, it is enough to have a look at the Global Food Security Index prepared by “The Economist Group”.

“According to this report, Azerbaijan has experienced a consecutive increase in the gross food security index of the country in the last seven years,” Gasimli noted.

This growth was 12.7 percentage points over the past seven years, and Azerbaijan leads the list for this indicator.

“It should be noted that in other countries, this indicator was 6-7% most. In 2019, Azerbaijan ranked 53rd in this report, going up more than three steps. Azerbaijan is currently place in the first ten among Asian and Pacific countries in terms of food security. Our country also outstripped several past republics of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) in this rating,” Gasimli added.

“Azerbaijan has continuously improved his position in the Global Food Security Index,” he said.

The annual product balance in Azerbaijan is compiled based on the following product types: wheat, other cereals, grain legumes, flour, bread and bakery products, rice, potato, onion, vegetables, melons, fruit and berries, meat and meat products, milk and dairy products, plant oils, butter, tea and etc, Gasimli noted.

“In Azerbaijan, self-sufficiency for cereals (paddy not included) reaches 70 per cent and our stocks in this area has been 1-1,2 million tonnes in the previous years. As usual, since the beginning of the year, the residuals on cereals are more than 40% of the products used for food production. In 2019, self-sufficiency level for potato has been 87.9 per cent,” Gasimli said.

The expert added that in Azerbaijan, residuals on potato is always higher than 70% of the products consumed as food. The self-sufficiency level for vegetables is 112 per cent, melons 100,8 per cent, fruit and berries 123,1 per cent, meat and meat products is 82,5 per cent, eggs is 101,8 per cent, milk and dairy products 86,2 per cent, salt is 111,4 per cent, bread and bakery products is 100 per cent.

“We have sufficient stocks for all kinds of food products. Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov also said there is no difficulty in importing goods, including food products. In addition, the state also has food stocks that can provide livelihoods for any force majeure,” Gasimli concluded.

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Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

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