Azerbaijan, Baku, May 3 / Trend A.Akhundov /
The decline in grain import into Azerbaijan affected the country's foreign trade rates, Committee Chairman Aydin Aliyev told journalists today.
"Many exporters have lowered grain exports, which affected the volume of Azerbaijan's cereal imports," Aliyev said.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan imported grain worth $104.212 million in the first quarter of 2011, which made up 5.51 percent of total imports. The figure increased by 2.36 times comported to the same period of 2010.
In addition, the inflation in the foreign countries comes to Azerbaijan via imported products, which also affects the performance of foreign trade, Aliyev said.
Aliyev said despite this, an increase was observed on the number of imported goods, especially technical equipment and other high-value products.
Azerbaijan exported 1,106 species and imported - 4,337 species in the first quarter of 2011.
"Obviously, the increase in oil prices has increased the country's export performance," Aliyev said.
The State Customs Committee reported that Azerbaijan's foreign trade operations with 116 countries made up $7.336 billion in January-March 2011, up by 32.15 percent compared to the same period of 2010.
The surplus of the foreign trade turnover was $3.553 billion.
The value of export operations was $5.445 billion, an increase of 23.97 percent compared to the same period of 2010.
Azerbaijan mainly exported crude oil during the report period, which made up 86.35 percent f the total export. The country exported crude oil worth $4.702 billion, exceeding the figure for the same period of 2010 by 23.24 percent.
Azerbaijan exported oil products worth $270.724 million (a 10.62-percent decrease on year on), which made up 4.97 percent of total exports.
The country's imports totaled $1.892 billion, a 63.1-percent increase over the same period in 2010. Azerbaijan mainly imported of machines, equipment, electric vehicles and their spare parts, which made up 31.97 percent of total import in the first quarter. The country imported machinery and equipment valued at $604.8 million, exceeding the figure for the same period last year by 87.67 percent.