Avag Harutyunyan: “EEU is a wrong market for Armenian wine” (video)
Georgia annually exports 35 million bottles of wine to Russia, whereas Armenia exports only 2 million bottles. According to the words of Avag Harutyunyan, Chairman of Union of Armenian Winemakers, the EEU market is a market of cheap goods, and Armenia has no resource to produce cheap goods. “If Armenia can produce wines worth 1-1.5 dollars, Russia will become a wonderful market. But we do not have grapes, human resources and energy carriers in order to produce cheap wine. Our sales price is 1.5 dollars. It means we should diversify our market as much as possible.” Chairman of the Union of Winemakers presented Georgia’s example. This country signed an agreement with China without quotas and probationary period to export up to 70 million bottles to China. Yet, Armenia cannot sign such a contract, as it is a member of the EEU, “Now the Chinese side wants the EEU to negotiate with them as Armenia cannot do it separately.”
