Armenia`s foreign trade saw a significant increase in the share of  precious metals and stones from 12% to 51% in 2022-2024, although the  growth rate is starting to slow down

ArmInfo. By the end of 2024, the share of precious metals and stones in Armenia's foreign trade  had reached 51% (27% in 2023 and 12% in 2022). In just one year, the value of transactions rose from $5.5 billion to $15.4 billion (compared to $1.7 billion in 2022). From January to December 2024,   imports and exports of precious metals and stones reached 43% and 61%, respectively, from 19% and 38% in 2023 (against 8% and 19% in 2022). This is evidenced by  data from the RA Statistical Committee.

In the reporting year of 2024, products worth for $7.4 billion were  imported and $8.04 billion were exported. In both cases there was a  slight slowdown in the  high growth rates to 2.7-2.5 times (compared  to 3.3-3.2 times in 2023, against 2.8-3 times in 2022 - when this  trend emerged).  For comparison, it is worth noting that a sharp  increase in this article and its emergence as a leading one in  Armenia's foreign trade turnover beginning in 2022, accelerating   noticeably in the following two years. In particular, in 2022,  precious metals/stones and products made from them were exported for  $989.3 million (an annual growth of 3 times), and imported for $690.8  million (an annual growth of 2.8 times). Then in 2023, there was a  significant growth in exports and imports of precious metals/stones  and related products, continuing and accelerating to 3.2-3.3 times  with exports reaching $3.2 billion and imports reaching $2.3 billion.  This trend continued into 2024, and despite some slowdown in growth,  the pace remained impressive, further increasing export and import  volumes.

With such a picture of the export and import of precious metals and  stones, the dynamics and volumes of production in the local jewelry  industry appear promising: in 2022, an increase of 51.8% - up to 42  billion drams, in 2023, a jump of 4.9 times - up to 230.9 billion  drams. However, already in 2024, during January- December, the  dynamics reversed, with a 32.2% decline and a significant drop in  volumes to 53.2 billion drams ($ 135.4 million). According to  experts, the dominance of precious metals and stones in exports and  imports over these years, with low volumes of local production in the  jewelry industry, already indicates re- export and re-import, which,  judging by the data for January-November 2024, are still taking  place.

 According to customs data for the first half of 2024, the majority  of diamond and gold imports came from Russia - 77% and 99.7%,  respectively, and the dominant export of these precious metals and  stones went to the markets of the UAE (77% diamonds and 64% gold) and  Hong Kong (17% diamonds and 25% gold). A similar trend was seen at  the end of 2023, but then 46.7% of diamonds and 99.2% of gold came  from Russia, which were also exported to the UAE (84.6% diamonds and  71.4% gold) and Hong Kong (2.7% diamonds and 25.4% gold). In terms of  mineral product export and import, there was a slowdown in growth  rates in 2022 and a decline of 13.6-6.9% to $887.7 million -1.1  billion in 2023. However, in January- December 2024, exports managed  to grow more significantly - by 15.1% to $1.02 billion, while imports  barely reached 0.3% growth to $1.13 billion. This caused the mineral  products to fail in rank, from 1st to 3rd  place in both  exports and  imports from 2022-2024, losing out to precious metals and stones and  even lagging behind  machinery, equipment and mechanisms.

Exports of machinery, equipment and mechanisms for January-December  2024 exceeded $1.3 billion (showing a decline in annual dynamics from  79.6% growth to a 3% decline), and imports - $2.7 billion (a slowdown  in annual growth from 42.3% to 7.1%). Exports and imports of finished  food products experienced accelerated growth in 2024  from 0.3-6.6%  to 6.9-16.7%, reaching $954.2 million and $737 million, respectively.  In total, the volume of exports for January-December 2024 reached  $13.1 billion, with a slowdown in annual growth from 55.3% to 53.1%,  and the volume of imports reached $17.1 billion, also slowing in  growth from 40.2% to 33.8%. This resulted in a slowdown of the annual  growth of foreign trade turnover from 46% to 41.5%, with a total  volume of $30.2 billion. The largest growth in foreign trade turnover  is recorded in the direction of Russia (by 56.5%) and the UAE (by 2.3  times). A significant increase in imports from the Russian Federation  (by 2.1 times) and exports to the UAE (by 2.4 times) is noted.

It should be noted that the forecasts of the Central Bank of Armenia,  the IMF and the World Bank regarding exports and imports for  2024-2025 differ greatly. According to the Central Bank's  expectations, in 2024 the growth of exports and imports will slow  down imperceptibly - from the same real growth in 2023 by 30.7-30.2%  to 26.5-28.3% (for exports) and 27.8-25.7% (for imports). In 2025 the  dynamics will turn towards a decline: by 25.3-16.3% (for exports) and  by 13.9-20.7% (for imports). The IMF predicts that Armenia's exports  will enter a 1.4% decline already in 2024, with an acceleration in  2025 to 10.4%, while expecting a strong slowdown in import growth to  2.8% in 2024 and a 5.4% decline in 2025. The World Bank, in turn,  predicts a strong slowdown in export and import growth in Armenia in  2024 to 5.2% and 6.7%, with an imperceptible acceleration in 2025 to  5.6% and 7%.