ARMENIA LOSES CHANCE TO BOOST EXPORT OF WINE TO RUSSIA

ArmInfo
2008-08-22 13:13:00

ArmInfo. Armenia lost the chance to boost export of wine to Russia
after Russia embargoed Georgian wines, Chairman of the Union of
Winemakers of Armenia Avag Haroutiunyan told ArmInfo.

‘We should have been acted immediately, but we didn’t. Quite on the
contrary, export of Armenian wines began sagging’, he said. ‘We did
not occupy the niche of Georgia in the Russian market, and we couldn’t
do that since Georgia exports about 40 million bottles of wine to
Russia annually and Moldova – 230-240 million bottles. The whole our
capacity is 7-8 million bottles of wine annually. We have at last
reached the level of 1 million bottles of wine annual export. Russian
market potential is 500,000 bottles of wine annually and several
millions of bottles are not significant for it>, A. Haroutiunyan said.

He is sure that the key problem of Armenian winemaking is lack of
necessary mechanisms for advertising in abroad. Although the Union
of Armenian Winemakers has repeatedly applied to the government for
assistance in organization of advertising in the territory of Russia,
it was not received relevant response, he said.