Damascus-Sana
Engineer Omar al-Shalt, Chairman of the Damascus Chamber of Agriculture, pointed to the increasing interest of government agencies in the agricultural sector for its role in providing food needs for citizens and providing financial resources through exporting abroad, pointing to the need to organize and support the export process, which did not stop during the years of the crisis and for more than 40 countries around the world.
In a statement to the SANA Economic Bulletin, Al-Shalt considered, “The export of Syrian agricultural products is done randomly through the Al-Hal market without organizing them according to an annual agenda that shows the quantities that can be exported of each type in a way that preserves the stability of the local market,” indicating the need to support exports logistically and financially by cultivating products for export. And the establishment of refrigerated sorting and packaging centers at border centers and airports, in addition to establishing centers for Syrian exports in a number of important countries, and concluding bilateral agreements that facilitate the flow of Syrian products and support their competitiveness.
On the volume of agricultural exports, Al-Shal revealed that the Damascus Chamber of Agriculture had granted since the beginning of this year until the end of August 2960 certificates of origin for various agricultural exports, the amount of which amounted to more than 127 thousand tons and the value of 47989497 dollars, which mainly included oranges with a quantity of 82,691 tons, amounting to more than 16 million dollars, then oil Olives amounted to 3467 tons, valued at about $ 7 million, and Qamar al-Din amounted to $ 4.5 million. Potatoes amounted to 9,151 tons, valued at about $ 3 million.
Shalt pointed out that the exported quantities of fruits amounted to more than 25 thousand tons at a value that exceeded 8 million dollars, and included pomegranate, then cherries, apples, pears and peaches, in addition to exporting 4,731 tons of medicinal and aromatic plants, with a value of about 7.5 million pounds, including cumin, nigella, anise, coriander, as well as exported quantities. From carrots, lentils, truffles, dried figs, pickles and olives, indicating that the destination of exports was the neighboring Arab countries, the Gulf countries, and Russia, in addition to some European and Asian countries.
Nadim Mualla
SANA Economic Bulletin