For the third month now, the entry of several agricultural products into the Russian market has been banned, with the Russian side citing the quality of these products as the reason. Producers of tomatoes, apricots, peppers, cucumbers, and other fruits and vegetables are constantly complaining that their harvest is spoiling on-site, to which the government responds that it will provide compensation.
Moreover, it claims that they can export to the EU market, which Armenian producers do not consider realistic, especially in the volumes they previously exported to Russia.
The grape harvesting season is approaching; will grape growers face the same problem, considering that alongside the arrest of the leader of the BHK, Gagik Tsarukyan, the doors of the wine and brandy factory in Yerevan were also closed?
According to former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan, the issue with grapes is more chain-like: if, for example, in the case of apricots, it involves the gardener, seller, or buyer and export, in the case of grapes, it is different: technical varieties, more than 90 percent of spirits and wines are mainly harvested by Armenian companies.
“If these companies cannot export their wines and brandies normally, it means they will face financial and packaging issues. This means that about 200,000 tons of grapes (referring to last year's harvest), which is a serious problem. The harvesting is currently at risk due to packaging; if they do not have packaging, they cannot do the harvesting, and at the same time, financial issues will arise,” Ashot Harutyunyan said in an interview with 168.am–.
According to our interlocutor, table grape varieties are mainly consumed in the local market and exported to the EAEU market.
“But, as you know, the road is currently closed, and there is also a blockade, in this regard, the problem is serious because the local market with refrigerators and sales cannot provide all this.
Regarding exporting to the EU market, unlike apricots, which are said to be a brand, grapes do not have a significant place in Europe anymore, because in Italy, Hungary, Turkey, not to mention France, they grow such table varieties that are eye-catching and also good in taste. There is also Kazakhstani grapes there; in the case of grapes, we have no advantage in the EU market,” emphasized Ashot Harutyunyan.
Last year, grape growers were satisfied with the volumes of grape harvest, but this year they expect a small harvest.
One of the grape growers from the Ararat region, Karen Mikaelyan, told 168.am that although they have already signed a contract with the processing company, the volume of harvest this year is generally very small.
“Compared to last year, the harvest this year is not good; the reasons are different - the weather, well, it depends on the year; there are years when we get a good harvest, and there are years when we do not. Personally, I will not have problems with processing; the contract is signed, the harvest is small, they will process it,” said our interlocutor.
According to him, despite the fact that the harvest is small, the processing company has not changed the prices for processing; it will process at the same price as last year - 130-135 drams per kg.
“I have not changed the processing company; I always hand it over to this company. We do not export grapes outside of Armenia; they have not been taking them for two years already. We used to hand them over to the exporting company, and that company exported, but this year there are still no talks. We will see; maybe in September there will be, at that time is usually when they accept grapes and export them. But I say, there are still no such talks,” emphasized our interlocutor.
