ArmInfo.In the first half of 2025, Armenia reduced gold exports by 82% (compared to a 12-fold increase the previous year) to 10,646 kg. According to data from the Armenian Customs Service, the customs value decreased by 75.3%, exceeding $1 billion.
The majority of exports went to the UAE (91.3%), with much smaller volumes going to India (5.5%) and Hong Kong (2.2%), and even smaller amounts to China and Russia. Gold imports also declined significantly, by 85%, reaching 9,951 thousand kg in the first half of 2025, with the customs value declining by 78% to $973 million.
Russia is Armenia's main gold importer (91.6%), while the UAE accounts for only 1.6%, and smaller volumes come from the United States, Thailand, Switzerland, Libya, and Germany. It should be noted that, according to the RA Statistics Committee, precious metals and stones have been declining in Armenia's foreign trade since 2025, accounting for 25% of the total ($2.4 billion) in the first half of the year, compared to 64% ($11.7 billion) a year ago. Specifically, the share of imports and exports of precious metals and stones in total trade fell in the first half of 2025 to 19% and 35%, respectively, compared to 58% and 71% in the same period last year. Precious metal/stone transaction volumes began to decline at a significant rate starting in 2025, worsening the annual dynamics of export and import volumes from a significant 8.1-9.4-fold increase in the first half of 2024 to a significant decline of 77-78.8% in the first half of 2025.
Experts attribute this situation to the neutralization of the re-export and re-import of gold and diamonds, as a result of the settlement of customs duties on jewelry within the EAEU (Russia has eliminated duties on jewelry imports from the UAE). According to statistics, in the first half of 2025, production volumes in the jewelry industry decreased by 69.2% year-on-year (to 11.9 billion drams or $30.4 million), while a year ago there was already a strong slowdown in growth rates to 6.5%, with a volume of 33.6 billion drams ($85 million).
