COMPETITION ON MINERAL WATERS MARKET IS LARGE IN ARMENIA,
JERMUK GROUP CJSC CHAIRMAN’S ADVISER SAYS

YEREVAN, JULY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The competition on the mineral
waters market of Armenia is large, as there are Bjni, Arzni, Jermuk
and a number of other companies producing mineral waters. As Edgar
Ghazarian, Adviser of the Jermuk CJSC Chairman, said in his interview
to NT correspondent, the main competition is among local companies,
as the amount of imported mineral water is small and it does not have
any impact on the competition on the local market.

In E.Ghazarian’s words, though the company founded in 1999 increases
the volume of production year by year, the production volume in the
first six months of this year has remained unchanged as compared with
the same period of the previous year, and its sale has decreased by
four percent.

At the same time, it was mentioned that company’s exports have
increased by 23 percent this year compared with the first half
year of 2005. Jermuk Group exports it production to 14 countries,
including Canada, U.S., Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Russia,
Ukraine. E.Ghazarian also said that this year the production of Jermuk
CJSC has received a certificate of correspondence to EU requirements,
which enables to export the plant’s production to EU member-countries.

It was mentioned that the plant is periodically replenished with
modern European equipments and production lines. As E.Ghazarian said,
the new annex of Jermuk Group CJSC will be ready by the end of the
year and a new production line of European production will be brought
from Austria, which will give a possibility to increase exports of
mineral water.