Monday, March 21 2022 17:13

ArmInfo.There will be no problems with ensuring  food security in Armenia.  Armenian Finance Minister Tigran  Khachatryan expressed this confidence on March 21 in an interview  with journalists.

The head of the Ministry of Finance called on the citizens of the  Republic of Armenia to be conscious.  According to him, if the Upper  Lars checkpoint (the only land road linking Armenia and Russia, ed.  note) suddenly closes for several days due to worsening weather  conditions, which will lead to problems with the supply of a number  of goods, this does not mean that it is necessary to sound the alarm  and sow panic.  In any case, as Khachatryan assured, today there are  no problems with food security and there will not be.  Touching upon  possible problems with the supply of grain, Tigran Khachatryan noted  that on a global scale, the volumes of wheat consumed by Armenia are  very small. The Minister expressed confidence that Armenian  entrepreneurs are capable of supplying the domestic market with as  much wheat as is necessary to provide the population with bread.

It should be noted that the day after the official announcement of  the introduction of a temporary embargo on the import of grain and  sugar to the EAEU countries, and after the country's population began  to "attack" stores, buying not only flour, sugar, but also olive oil  and macaroni products, the Minister of the Economy of Armenia, Vagan  Kerobyan assured on his Facebook page that at present, the Republic  of Armenia is not predicting a shortage of products included in the  minimum food basket. Meanwhile, the country's authorities previously  did not want to respond in any way to the concerns of the media and  the public, who raised this issue two weeks before, especially in the  context of the fact that before the 44-day war, Armenia met the  domestic demand for grain in the amount of 80% by importing grain  from the Republic of Artsakh. Today, according to experts, the level  of self-sufficiency in grain is about 70%. The main exporting  countries of agricultural products to Armenia are Russia (38.0% of  the country's total agricultural imports), Ukraine (9.8%), and Brazil  (6.2%).

On March 14,  head of the Food Safety Inspectorate of Armenia, Georgi  Avetisyan, assured that there would be no problems with products in  the next 2-3 months. "Negotiations are underway to be able to provide  (supplies - ed. note) in the future," he said. At the same time,  Georgi Avetisyan forcasts a rise in prices for grain imported to  Armenia from other countries. He clarified that since the other  producing countries, Canada and Australia, which are major players in  the grain sector, are far from Armenia, consequently the import of  goods will be more expensive.