Will Subsidies Stimulate Inefficient Business?

According to the information released by the State Statistics Committee on August 15, 98.3% of the autumn and spring cereal and leguminous (excluding corn) crops were harvested, and 1,680.3 thousand tons of this harvest were wheat. To compare, wheat production during the same period in 2023 was 1,828.6 thousand tons. Calculations show that compared to the previous year, wheat production has decreased by 148.3 thousand tons, or 8.1%.

According to the data presented by the State Customs Committee, our calculations showed that the value of food products imported into Azerbaijan during the first seven months of this year increased by 9.0% compared to the same period last year. To remind, in the period from January to July 2023, food products worth $1.231 billion were imported, while in the same period of 2024, the import value reached $1.342 billion. In the current year, the value of food product imports increased by $111 million compared to the previous year. It is worth noting that over the past five years, Azerbaijan's food product imports increased by 56.8%, and over the last decade, they more than doubled.

According to information released by the State Statistics Committee, agricultural products worth 7 billion 508 million manats were produced in Azerbaijan from January to July 2024, an increase of 0.8% compared to the same period last year. The Committee's data shows that over the past year, the value of crop production in the country increased by 0.2%, reaching 3 billion 836 million manats, while the value of livestock products grew by 1.5%, amounting to 3 billion 671 million manats.

According to the data recently released by the State Statistics Committee, the consumer price index for food products, beverages, and tobacco products in Azerbaijan was 102.0% in July 2024 compared to the previous month and 100.2% compared to July 2023. This means that in July, food products became 2% more expensive compared to the previous month.