In Kurdistan, Imports Dwarf Exports

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In the Kurdistan Region’s oil-fuelled economy, the huge gap between imported goods and local products is readily on display among the mounds of produce on display at greengrocer Haji Mukhlis’s shop.

“The carrots are from Syria, the oranges are African, the peaches come from Egypt, the garlic is Chinese and the dates arrive from southern Iraq,” he rattles off, his finger pointing out each item at his shop in Erbil. “Only the figs are local, and enough to satisfy local demand,” he says.

What he illustrates with his fruits and vegetables is the picture behind the government’s own numbers: According to data from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) seven trillion dinars ($6 billion) worth of goods were imported last year, while non-oil exports were a fraction of that amount.

Most of the imports were produce and food, with the lion’s share – about 5 trillion dinars worth – coming from Turkey over the connecting Ibrahim Khalil bridge. Iran, which has three border crossings with the enclave, is Erbil’s second-largest trade partner.

“Every week I receive 30 tons of fruit and vegetables, most of it from abroad,” says Sabah Paqlawa, another shopkeeper in Erbil.

The department of imports and exports admits that the size of non-oil exports, which are limited to raw materials such as animal hide, wool and honey that go mostly to Turkey and return as more expensive processed goods, are dwarfed by imports.

Some local businessmen complain that the enormous volume of foreign goods has paralyzed any chance of local industries breaking into the market.

Azad Qadir, a businessman in Erbil who exports hide to Turkey, says that with government support he can build a factory of his own and process the same material he sends abroad. He can offer cheaper products in the market, and maybe become an exporter, he adds.

“I can build a factory and put many people to work,” Qadir told Rudaw. “I can use the hide to make belts and export them,” he explains.

But Firyad Nawzad, another businessman, says that local goods cannot compete with foreign products unless the government steps in to regulate imports.

“I will succeed only if the government stops importing a certain good. Only then would I build my own factory,” he says.

Kurdistan, once called the “bread basket of Iraq,” has been trying to revive its agricultural sector, after decades of conflict and neglect. Agriculture in Kurdistan is now struggling to catch up with modern advances and technology adopted in neighboring countries like Turkey.

In 2008, the Kurdistan Region’s ministry of agriculture designed a five-year plan aimed at boosting local agriculture. However, the program failed to achieve its aims, and the ministry is now drawing up a second five-year plan.