"Azerbaijan's non-oil sector grows at expense of oil

Azerbaijan is reported to have reached a historic high in non-oil exports in 2022 during the period of independence. According to official data, exports in this sector grew sharply as compared to 2021.

Last year Azerbaijan's total exports were $38.1 billion and non-oil sector exports were $3 billion. In 2021 exports were $22.2 billion and non-oil sector exports were $2.7 billion.

In January this year, exports to the non-oil sector grew by 22.6 per cent from the same period in 2022 to $284.5 million.

Also, the Centre for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications told Turan that exports to the non-oil sector grew by 10.3 per cent in 2022. It was noted that in the last year, exports of chemical products grew by 57.7%, ferrous metals and their products by 17.5%, aluminium fibre by 15.4% and tea exports by 35.6%: "Exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products reached $912.4 million... The value of agro-industrial products, which take an important place in the structure of non-oil exports, grew by 35.4 percent as compared to the appropriate period of the last year."

The Ministry of Economy pointed out that among export products there dominate fruits and vegetables, cotton fiber, chemical industry products: "The range of products of non-oil export has grown by 10 percent as compared to 2021. Azerbaijan sells non-oil products to more than 100 countries, and in the last year this market geography expanded."

Economist, businessman Nazim Beydamirli told Radio Azadlig that according to official statistics, 92 percent of Azerbaijan's economy is in the oil sector: "By the oil sector, the government means crude hydrocarbon reserves. And when we talk about the non-oil sector, the government includes urea, polyethylene, polypropylene, that is, products of the petrochemical industry. Although these products are not related to crude oil, they are semi-finished products and belong to the oil sector".

According to him, it is also doubtful that what has been said is related to rise in exports of agricultural products: "Azerbaijan itself does not produce enough agricultural products, and we have to import them. In that case, how can exports of these products grow? At the time when Russia was subjected to sanctions, and even before that (the 'tomato war'), many products of Turkish, Iranian origin were sold and re-exported through Azerbaijan.

In November 2015, a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian military plane on the Syrian-Turkish border, causing diplomatic and economic tensions between the two countries. Russia stopped importing tomatoes from Turkey. Imports were subsequently restored.-0-