ArmInfo.Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EU countries in January-February 2021 remained in a downward trend with an acceleration in annual rates from 1.9% to 3.2%, amounting to $188.9 million.
The negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with the EU countries amounted to $36.4 million, increasing in January-February 2021 by 19.3% per annum (against a decline of 23.4% in the same period in 2020). This was due to the reversal of the annual dynamics of exports from 3.5% growth to 7.4% decline, while the decline in imports slowed from 5.5% to 0.2%, the absolute value of which was $76.2 million and $112.6 million, respectively, in January-February 2021. This is evidenced by the final data of the RA State Committee.
As a result, the share of Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EU countries in the overall structure of foreign trade increased from 18.8% to 20.4% year-on-year.
In the structure of Armenia's foreign trade with the EU countries, the largest share is accounted for by Germany - 19.9% or $37.5 million (with an improvement in the annual dynamics from 28.5% decline to 21.6% growth), Bulgaria-17.1% or $32.2 million (with a deterioration in the annual trend from 20.1% growth to 23.2% decline), Italy-16.8% or $31.8 million (with a reversal of the annual dynamics from 0.8% decline to 1.1% growth), the Netherlands - 11.7% or $22.1 million (with a slowdown in the annual decline from 12.8% to 3.9%), and France-9% or $16.9 million (with a deterioration in the annual dynamics from 61.5% growth to 1% decline).
The negative balance of Armenia's foreign trade with Germany increased by 24.1% to $14.4 million, with Italy-increased by 10.8% to $21.6 million, and with France, on the contrary, decreased by 6.8% to $14.95 million. As for the positive balance of Armenia's foreign trade with Bulgaria, there was a decline of 25.8% to $27.6 million, and with the Netherlands - an increase of 15% to $14.6 million, and these are the only positive indicators among the active EU trading partner countries, except for Lithuania and Slovakia, which reached a meager positive balance in the reporting period.
The export of Armenian goods to Germany increased by 20% year-on-year%- up to $11.6 million, with an increase in imports of goods from Germany by 22.3% - up to $25.9 million, while a year earlier there was a decline in exports by 4.7% and imports by 35.7%. The export of Armenian goods to Italy decreased by 14.4% to $ 5.1 million, while the import of goods from Italy increased by 4.7% to $26.7 million, while a year earlier the opposite picture was observed - the export growth of 14.7% was accompanied by a decline in imports by 3.9%. The export of Armenian goods to Bulgaria decreased by 24.4% to $29.9 million, while the import of goods from Bulgaria decreased by 3.7% to $2.3 million, against the multidirectional dynamics of a year earlier-the export growth of 43.4% was accompanied by a significant decline in imports by 67.1%. The export of Armenian goods rto the Netherlands increased by 2.8% to $18.3 million, while the import of goods from the Netherlands decreased by 27.1% to $3.7 million, against the reverse picture a year earlier - the decline in exports by 18.9% was accompanied by an increase in imports by 18.1%. The export of Armenian goods to France jumped 2.1 times-to $981.5 thousand, with a decline in imports of goods from France by 4.1% - to $15.9 million, while a year earlier an impressive jump was observed rin imports (2 times) with a significant decline in exports (by 80.1%).
In terms of exports of Armenian goods to the EU countries, Bulgaria is the leader, the Netherlands is on the 2nd position, Germany is on the 3rd, Italy is on the 4th, and France is on the 8th position. In terms of imports among the EU countries, Italy, Germany and France remained in the TOP-3, while the Netherlands and Bulgaria occupy the 8th and 11th positions.
In total, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-February 2021 amounted to $925.4 million, having fallen by 12.2% per annum (against an increase of 2.4% a year earlier). In particular, the decline in import volumes was more significant - by 15.8% to $571.1 million, than exports-by 5.5% to $354.4 million, against the multidirectional dynamics of these items a year earlier - the decline in imports by 0.8% was accompanied by an increase in exports by 8.8%, respectively. As a result, Armenia's negative foreign trade balance accelerated the annual decline in January-February 2021 to 28.6% from 10.3% a year earlier, amounting to $216.7 million
