YEREVAN BRANDY COMPANY SUSPENDS BRANDY SUPPLY TO RUSSIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 27. ARMINFO. The largest exporter of strong drinks in
Armenia, Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC), has suspended the supply of
brandy to Russia, YBC press-service told ARMINFO, Monday.

The source reports that the suspension is connected with introduction
of new excise marks in Russia starting from April 1 2006. After
purchasing new excise marks, YBC will resume the brandy supply. It
is just a temporary technical problem, the press-service reports.

In his turn, Chairman of the Union of Winemaker-Armenians Avag
Haroutunyan told ARMINFO that 26 of 31 producers of alcohol drinks in
Armenia export their production, preferentially brandy and to Russia.

He said the Armenian strong drink exporters have not supplied their
production to Russia for already two weeks. Moreover, they do not
register new orders as they cannot acquire new excise marks. The
Russian party informs that the new excises marks will be published
not earlier than in a month period, which will have a negative impact
on Armenian exporters, Haroutunyan believes.

It’s noteworthy that in 2005 9.078.4 thousand liters of brandy were
exported >From Armenia, which was 3.5 times more than in 2004 (2.591
thousand liters). Over the half of the export was the production
of YBC.