Azerbaijan's foreign trade surplus hits $17.3bn

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan’s foreign trade surplus amounted to $17.3 billion from January to August 2022, Azernews reports per the State Customs Committee.

The country's trade turnover amounted to $35.1 billion in the first eight months of the year. Of the total turnover, export amounted to $26.2 billion, or 74.7 percent, while import was $8.8 billion, or 25.2 percent, resulting in a surplus of $17.3 billion.

Moreover, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs in the country carried out trade operations with partners in 174 countries.

In terms of export, EU countries accounted for $16.9 billion, or 64.4 percent, CIS countries for $1 billion, or 4 percent, and other countries for $8.2 billion, or 31.4 percent of the country's total export.

As to imports, CIS countries accounted for $2.5 billion, or 28.9 percent, EU countries accounted for $1.4 billion, or 15.8 percent, and other countries for $4.8 billion, or 55.1 percent, of the country's imports during the reporting months.

Furthermore, 503,027 tons of cargo worth $675.6 million were transported by sea, 4.2 million tons worth $2.3 billion by railway, and 3.1 million tons worth $6.6 billion of cargo by vehicles. Some 61,954 tons of cargo worth $1 billion were transported by air from January to August 2022.

In the structure of the exports, the main volume came from products of the oil and gas sector with 92.8 percent, while the non-oil and gas sector amounted to 7.1 percent of the total export volume.

Azerbaijan's primary export transactions during the reporting period were with Italy ($12.8 billion), Turkiye ($2.4 billion), India ($1.3 billion), Israel ($1.1 billion), and Greece ($863 million).

Over the past eight months, Azerbaijan's main import partners were Russia ($1.6 billion), Turkiye ($1.4 billion), China ($1.3 billion), Germany ($397 million), and Kazakhstan ($325.9 million).