In Jan-Apr 2016 industrial output in Armenia grew by 10% y-o-y mainly due to mining sector

ArmInfo. In Jan-Apr 2016, the industrial output in Armenia grew by 10% y-o-y to 421 bln AMD ($864.7 mln) versus 4.2% growth in the previous year, the National Statistical Service of Armenia reports. In April 2016 alone the industrial output grew by 13.2% versus 10.6% y-o-y growth in April 2015. The upward trend of the industrial sector of Armenia is retained mainly due to significant growth in the mining sector.

In Jan-Apr  2016, 21.5% y-o-y growth to 77.1 bln AMD was registered in mining industry and surface mining, which is lower than the indicator of the same period in 2015 (30.9%). In April alone 4.7% growth to 19.6 bln AMD was registered. In Jan-Apr 2016 processing industry grew by 3.8% year-over-year to 239.7bln AMD versus 1.1% growth in the same period of 2015. In April alone 8.8% growth to 72.7 bln AMD was registered.  At the same time in Jan-Apr 2016 within the processing industry significant reduction of production of machinery and equipment (32.1%), non- metal ore (30.9% drop), final metal production (24.4% drop), production of base metals (22.1% drop) was registered.  At the same time high growth was registered in production of cigarettes (59.7%), furniture (58%), clothes (44.9%) and jewelry (2.3-fold). In Jan-Apr 2016 output of food products declined by 2.5% y-o-y, and textile by 10.7% y-o-y. Food products (77.5 bln AMD), cigarettes (44.2bln), base metals (42 bln) and drinks (28 bln) are the leaders in terms of output amount in the processing industry.  The supplies of electric power, gas, steam, and conditioned air increased by 17.3% to 97bln AMD in Jan-Apr 2016 versus 8.1% decline a year before. In April alone 15% growth to 21.5 bln AMD was ensured. At the same time transmission and distribution of electric power grew by 25,4% y-o-y in Jan-Apr 2016, while distribution of gas fuel via gas supply systems dropped by 6,9% (down by 33% in April alone). 

The revenues from water supply, waste disposal and recycling grew by 9.4% y-o-y to 7 bln AMD in Jan-Apr 2016 versus 9.7% growth in the previous year. In April alone 2.2% growth to 1.7 bln AMD was registered. Growth in this field was mainly achieved due to water supply-5% y-o-y, 2,8% of which in April alone.

To recall, industrial output in Armenia accelerated growth from 2.7% to 5.2% in 2015 and totaled 1.3 trillion AMD ($ 2.8 bln). As before the upward trend of the industrial output was ensured due to significant growth in mining industry (87.8% in 2015 versus 2.5% in 2014) amid drop of processing industry from 10% growth in 2014 to 7.6% decline in 2015.

The average AMD/USD exchange rate was 481.27 AMD/$1 in April 2016 and 486.82 AMD/$1 in Jan-Apr 2016 versus 474.07 AMD/$1 in Apr 2015 and 476.46 AMD/$1 in Jan-Apr 2015.