Gevorg Papoyan: We are now very close to the real volumes of our  exports

ArmInfo.  In October, amidst  a growing tourist flow and accelerating dynamics in the mining  industry, export of agricultural products, canned goods, and  alcoholic beverages, we are witnessing a prolonged decline in the  re-export of gold. This was stated by Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan  in an interview with Public Television of Armenia.

When asked if gold re-export makes up a significant portion of  exports, the minister did not deny it, but noted that the role of  re-exports has decreased significantly, especially in recent months,  In particular, he said that compared to the last 10-12 months, gold  re-export has decreased by 10 times. "We are now very close to the  real volumes of our exports," Papoyan said. Speaking about the  diversification of export destinations, the department head noted  that given the strong economic ties with Russia, the sanctions  against the latter have indirectly affected the Armenian economy.  He  reported that certain goods have shifted from the European market to  the Chinese one. "I can say that we have significantly increased  export deliveries in the eastern, southern and northern directions.  However, we are seeing a decline in the western direction with  several countries," Papoyan said.

 It should be noted that in May of this year, Aghasi Tavadyan, an  economist and Associate Professor of the Armenian State University of  Economics, pointed out that over the past two and a half years,  significant changes have occurred in Armenia's trade turnover  structure. According to him, precious stones and metals (TN VED 71),  mainly gold exports, have become the dominant export sector.  Re-export of precious stones and metals accounted for about 1/3 of  total exports in 2023. he emphasized.

According to statistics, from January to September 2024, the share of  precious metals and stones in Armenia's foreign trade increased to  55.5% from 15.4% the previous year. The dominance of imports and  exports of precious metals and stones was 47% and 66%, respectively,  up from 12% and 21% the previous year. During the reporting period,  $6.2 billion worth of these products were imported and $6.96 billion  worth were exported. In both cases, the already high annual growth  rates accelerated even more, by 6.1 and 6.3 times, respectively.  Experts suggest that the significant dominance of precious metals and  stones in exports and imports, despite low production volumes in the  jewelry industry, indicates re-exports and re- imports. This is  supported by data from January to September 2024. 

According to customs data for the first half of 2024, the majority of  gold exports went to the UAE (84.2%), and imports to Russia - 95.9%.  The largest volume of diamonds was also exported to the UAE (82.7%),  with imports primarily coming from India (45.2%), Russia (21.4%) and  Hong Kong (19.7%). It should be noted that according to preliminary  statistics, Armenia's foreign trade turnover in January-October 2024  reached AMD 10.3 trillion ($26.2 billion), with an acceleration of  the already high annual growth rate to 67.6% (up from 41.2% in the  same period of 2023). This is attributed to a more pronounced  increased in the annual growth rate of exports, rising from 38.5% to  95.1%, compared to imports, which increased from 42.9% to 50.8%. The  total value of imports was AMD 4.5 trillion ($11.5 billion) and AMD  5.8 trillion drams ($14.7 billion) for exports.