17:02 - 16.01.2020

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January 16, Fineko/abc.az. Expert economist Rovshan Agayev has commented on foreign trade statistics for 2019.

ABC.AZ reports that the expert noted that non-oil export observed an increase of just over $260 million, and this growth has mainly affected the growth of exports of fruits and vegetables and cotton.

According to Agayev, 80% of Azerbaijan’s import accounts for 15 countries. He noted that along with this, some changes were observed in their composition: "South Korea and Kazakhstan left the 15th place, losing to Canada and Australia. The formation of our imports at the expense of 15 countries shows that the real effective exchange rate of the manat is influenced only by the real exchange rate of these countries (nominal exchange rate + inflation rate). Food imports rose sharply by 20%. The share of these products in imports reached 12%. Wheat imports in real terms have an increase of about 50% - an increase from 1.1 million tons to 1.6 million tons. In addition, if in 2018 each ton of wheat was imported for $190, in 2019 it rose up to $214 - a 13% increase in price.

The average import price of butter was $5.1 in 2019 ($5.8 in 2018). There is a decrease of almost 12%. However, according to Statistics Committee’s data, there was almost no decrease in retail prices for imported butter in the markets and markets during 2019 - there was a decrease of only about 1%.

What conclusion can be drawn from this? In my view, due to the strong influence of the monopoly on the import and wholesale of butter, a 12% drop in imports does not affect retail prices even by 1%."