Export of Cotton Equal to Export of Electricity

Baku / 19.09.17 / Turan: This year Azerbaijan plans to increase cotton production 3 times to 250,000 tons. However, experts believe that this is not a way out of the situation, both in securing employment and increasing the currency flow into the country.

According to the State Customs Committee, for the first eight months of this year, Azerbaijan exported 24.1 thousand tons of cotton fiber and yarn at the expense of last year"s harvest. Exports increased 2.4 times, raising $ 37.3 million. This is $ 21.2 million higher than the indicator for the comparable period of 2016. At the same time, the proceeds from the export of cotton are approximately equal to the revenues from the sale of electricity - 812 million kW of electric power for the eight months of this year.

In the meantime, the cotton harvesting continues at a high rate. According to the State Statistics Committee, as of September 18, 10,500 tons of raw cotton was harvested from the plantations, 5.8 times more than in the same period in 2016. The area under cotton this year is 136,400 hectares. The average yield is expected at 18 quintals / ha. ------08B