Export And Import In Armenia
Every country in the world, regardless of being developed or developing, strives to increase its export rates to secure their place in the international market. This is the matter of gaining competitive advantage and enhancing said landscape, so policy makers don’t spare efforts to rank high on the list of countries by exports. Armenia, as a relatively new independent country, follows the example of the giants. Export rates by themselvs are not enough to evaluate the progress of the country: import rates are equally important.
Balance of Trade, or simply put, BOT describes the difference between imports and exports of a particular country. The rising question is, why is BOT so important? Well, economists use Balance of Payments (BOP) to compare a country’s economy to the rest of the world, which helps to identify the perspectives of that very country, and BOT is a crucial component of the latter.
Now, back to Armenia, as of 2015, it is the 142nd largest importer in the world with $3.26B imported goods and services. Petroleum Gas and Refined Petroleum make up the 17.57% of all imported products. According to the same source, Armenia ranks 133rd among the largest exporters in the world with $1.66B worth of exported goods. The import volume in 2011 was $4.1515B and the export volume the same year was $1.3295B. The change over those 4 years is quite significant. Armenia managed to reduce the import rates and focus on local production and boosted exports. Copper ore and gold are the most common among exports with 19.7% and 11.9%, which are, respectively, $326M and $196M.
Top countries importing goods and services from Armenia are Russian Federation, Canada, China, Germany, and Iraq. On the other hand, Armenia imports from mainly from Russia, China, Germany and Iran.
Agriculture and metallurgy are the industries with the biggest potential in the country. They help Armenia secure its spot in the world economy and increase the volumes of exported goods over the years. And in case of using those resources to their full potential, it is inevitable that the volume of exported products can grow considerably in the foreseeable future.
Armenia is a country with a great potential and numerous opportunities for growth far beyond the local and regional levels. The country is rich with natural resources and has the ability to produce high quality products, as well as provide exceptional services across all sectors. Armenia now has all the necessary attributes to become a leading exporter on an international level. The competitive advantages of Armenia as an exporting country have been showing only positive growth over the years, and it only promises to continue the trend.
It has become a top priority for the government to create all necessary preconditions to grow the exports. So, it can be anticipated that in upcoming years the Trade Balance will look much better.