TIRANA, March 1 – Albania’s metal and mineral dominated exports to Turkey and China were severely affected by the sharp cut in international commodity prices last January, according to INSTAT.
Exports to Turkey, whose overwhelming 90 percent are dominated by base metals and minerals, dropped by a sharp 93 percent to only 97 million lek (€692,000) year-on-year in January 2016.
Turkey was the sixth most important destination of Albania’s exports in 2015 when exports were affected by the significant cut in base metal prices. Turkey’s Kurum is the main steel producer in Albania and exports a considerably amount of its production.
Similarly, exports to China which in 2015 emerged for the first time as the country’s second most important trading partner with slight difference over traditional Greece, continue suffering affecting by a sharp cut in mineral prices, with chromium as Albania’s main export.
Albania’s exports to China dropped by 38 percent to 363 million lek (€2.6 mln) last January, INSTAT data shows.
In 2015, China was the seventh most important destination of Albania’s exports and the country’s second top import partner. Exports to China dropped by 25 percent to 6.6 billion lek (€47 mln) in 2015.
The sharp cut in commodity prices has severely affected Albania’s mining industry which has curbed production and closed down hundreds of jobs.
The situation is more critical in the Bulqiza chromium mine and Fushe-Arrez copper plant where hundreds of jobs have been cut to handle the sharp decline in international prices. Mining is one of the few job opportunities in the two poor northern small towns of Bulqiza and Fushe-Arrez, with thousands of households relying on it to make a living.
Last September, a Turkish-Chinese consortium operating a copper plant in the northern Albanian district of Puka announced the suspension of its activity for one year due to a sharp decline in international prices, leaving hundreds of workers jobless.
Earlier this year, the Albanian government said it was considering incentives to the country’s key mining industry after representatives of the mining industry appealed for a review of reference prices on chrome and copper, the two key minerals Albania produces and exports, but no action has been taken yet.
