Almost all of Ukraine's crude oil imports account for Azerbaijan

9 May 2019 14:06 (UTC+04:00)

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By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan and Ukraine enjoy sustainable prospects of bilateral relations in political, economic, transport, humanitarian fields and especially in energy.

Ukraine imported crude oil worth $99 million from Azerbaijan in January-April 2019.

According to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, during the reporting period, the country purchased crude oil worth a total of $101.4 million, which is 35.1 percent less than in January-April 2018.

Crude oil imports from Azerbaijan accounted for 97.6 percent of the country's total crude oil imports.

Imports from Azerbaijan are followed with those from Latvia - $2.3 million (2.29 percent), Hungary - $0.08 million (0.08 percent), and other countries - $0.03 million (0.03 percent).

In the reporting period, Ukraine reduced the import of oil and oil feedstock by 31.4 percent compared to the same period of 2018.

Ukraine is the second largest trade partner of Azerbaijan in the post-Soviet space. Azerbaijan is also considered one of the main trade partners of Ukraine.

The trade growth started in 2005 and reached $1.5 billion in peak points in 2011; export of products amounted to $909 million, while import - to $558 million. Since 2012, the trade turnover between the two countries has declined significantly. From 2016 to 2017, the trade turnover increased 2.5 times and exceeded $800 million, although it was $300 million until 2016.

In 2018, the trade turnover has been the highest in the last five years - it amounted to about $829 million, which is $18 million more than in 2017. Azerbaijan's imports from Ukraine amounted to $469.8 million in 2018, while products for $358.74 million were exported from Azerbaijan to Ukraine.

Main goods imported from Ukraine are metallurgy products, machine building products, agro-industrial products and chemical industry products. Meanwhile, the main goods exported from Azerbaijan to Ukraine are products of fuel energy industry, chemical industry products, and agro-industrial products.

Recently, Azerbaijan and Ukraine have been engaged in active development of economic cooperation. In June 2018, the first Trade House of Azerbaijan was opened in Kiev, and similar houses are planned to open in other cities of the country.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888