Thursday, November 5 2020 17:47

ArmInfo. For 9 months of 2020, the alcohol industry in Armenia did not manage to get out of the negative trend. According to the data of the Statistical  Committee of the Republic of Armenia, during the reporting period, a  downward trend was registered for absolutely all types of alcoholic  beverages produced in Armenia.

In particular, in January-September 2020, over 25 million liters of  brandy were produced, which is 12% lower than the year-ago indicator  (instead of 41.3% growth a year earlier over the same period). The  volume of wine produced in Armenia decreased by 22.9% (against growth  by 44%) to 6.6 million liters, including sparkling wine (champagne) -  by 17.9% (instead of growth by 16.9%) to 344.1 thousand liters.  The  production of vodka, liqueur and other alcoholic beverages also  decreased by 21.7% to 2.9 million liters, while a year earlier  production volumes showed an increase of 36.2%. During the reporting  period, beer production volumes also decreased by 10.3% (against  growth by 12.2%) to 19.4 mln liters.  The volumes of whiskey  production in Armenia, as in the previous year, also show a negative  trend, accelerating the rate of decline from 2% to 64.4%, providing a  volume of 209.4 thousand liters.  To recall, in the first half of  2020, Armenia exported 901.9 thousand liters of wine, with a decline  over the year by 30.6% (against growth by 16.5% last year), with a  decline in customs value by 24.7% to $ 3.2 million.

Traditionally, the main export market for Armenian wine is the  Russian Federation, which accounts for 69.8% of exports, instead of  72.3% in the first half of 2019, followed by the USA with a share of  8.9% (instead of 3.4% a year earlier) , Switzerland - 5.5% (instead  of 4%), France - 2.9% (instead of 1.8%), Italy - 2.3% (instead of  1.5%), Argentina - 1.4% (while Argentina did not figure a year  earlier), Belarus - 1.1% (instead of 0.8% a year earlier ), China -  1% (instead of 5% a year earlier), as well as Ukraine, Germany,  Poland, Israel, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Canada, Kazakhstan, the  Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, India, Australia, the United  Kingdom, etc.

Export of beer in the first half of 2020 decreased by 56.7% (instead  of 22.5% growth over the same period of 2019) to 396.8 thousand  liters, with a decrease in customs value by 57.5% to $ 316 thousand.  The main market for export supplies of Armenian beer is also the  Russian Federation, having reduced the share from 85.4% a year  earlier to 64.6% at the end of the reporting period, the USA (with a  share of 11.2% instead of 4% last year), France - 8.6% (instead of  2%), Poland 5,5% (instead of 3.9%), Argentina 2.7% (whereas a year  earlier Argentina did not figure), Georgia - 2.5% (instead of 1%),  Belgium - 2.2% (whereas a year earlier, the Belgian market accounted  for a negligible share), Ukraine - 2% (instead of 1.6%), Canada -  0.5% (instead of 0.2%).

In January-July, Armenia reduced the export of ethyl alcohol (with a  strength of up to 80 degrees), including alcohol-containing liqueur,  liqueur and other alcoholic beverages by 22.7% (while an increase of  4.5% was recorded a year earlier) to 9.9 million liters. At the same  time, the customs value amounted to $ 82.8 million, which is 14.1%  less than a year ago.  The lion's share of ethyl alcohol exports  falls on the Russian market with a share of 88.2% (instead of 90.4%  for the same period in 2019), the remaining volume was distributed  among a number of countries, including Belarus 3.5% (instead of 1,  8%), Ukraine - 4.2% (instead of 3%), Georgia - 0.7% (instead of  0.6%), Kazakhstan - 0.6% (instead of 0.4%), the USA - 0.4%, Germany -  0.3% (instead of 0.2%), France - 0.1% (instead of 5%), as well as  Moldova, Czech Republic, China, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia,  Estonia, Israel, Lebanon, Canada, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary,  United Kingdom, Mongolia, etc.

For some unknown reason, the RA Customs Service does not publish the  export figures for brandy separately.