Azerbaijan’s fruit, vegetable exports drop by 20pct

By Azernews

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

The volume of fruits and vegetables exported from Azerbaijan dropped by 20.4 percent year-on-year in the period of January-February, Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee has reported.

Thus, in January-February 2020, Azerbaijan exported 62.966 thousand tons of fruit and vegetables worth $75.5 million.

Fruits and vegetables produced by the country also dropped in value by 0.5 percent.

However, tomato paste exports increased both in volume (25.1 percent) and in value (38.8 percent) year-on-year in January-February 2020. Some 19.112 thousand tons of tomato paste worth $24.7 million were exported in the reported period.

According to the State Statistics Committee, the country also exported the following products in the period of January-February 2020:

Hazelnut – 3.734 thousand tons (decrease by 21.9 percent) worth $ 22 million 576.44 thousand (decrease by 10 percent), apple – 15.438 thousand tons (decrease by 33.86 percent) worth $6 million 617.48 thousand (decrease by 32.4 percent), persimmon –17.909 thousand tons (decrease by 22.3 percent) worth $14 million 109 thousand (decrease by 19.3 percent).

According to Azerbaijani State Customs Committee’s report in 2019, Azerbaijan exported 628,509.58 tons of fruit and vegetables worth $605,815.86 to foreign countries.

In 2019, the value of fruit and vegetable export of Azerbaijan decreased by 8.2 percent, while the volume decreased by 1.2 percent in comparison to 2018.

Note that in 2019, fruits and vegetables exported from Azerbaijan were mainly tomato paste (174.5 thousand tons), hazelnut (22.6 thousand tons), apple (96.8 thousand tons) and persimmon (146,000 tons).

It is worth to mention that agriculture is the fastest growing non-oil sector in the Azerbaijani economy. The ongoing reforms in the agricultural sector have had a serious impact on the development of Azerbaijan's economy, efficient use of land and property, improvement of the structure of the agricultural sphere and entrepreneurship.

Azerbaijan is mostly self-sufficient in the production of agricultural products, while vegetables and fruits are produced in abundance.