ArmInfo. Armen Yeganyan, the Head of the Department of Industrial Development, Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, says export of the Armenian light industry is re-orientating from European to Russian market. Taking to journalists, Yeganyan said the Russian market has a great capacity and urged local producers to gain more niches in that market.
In his words, the light industry sector in Armenia increased significantly within the first 8 months of 2016: cloth production increased 32%, shoes and leather items - 26%. Textile production fell 6%. At the same time, export in the light industry sector increased 60%, with export of Armenian shoes alone growing 126%. Nevertheless, the production is exported mostly to Europe, which independent experts explained with the production in line with tolling schemes.
According to the National Statistics Service of Armenia, industrial production in Armenia in Jan-Aug 2016, increased 7% (vs. 4.4% growth a year ago) to 898.7bln drams ($1.8bln). The driver of the growth is the mining sector, with certain upward trend in the processing sector (from decline to growth). In August alone, industrial production increased 1.3% (vs 9.7% growth in Aug 2015) to 121.3bln drams. In the same period, the economic activity in Jan-Aug 2016 fell from 2.4% to 3.9%. In Aug 2016 vs Aug 2015 service sector grew 10.5%, agricultural sector - 9.8%, and industrial sector - 1.3%, while the remaining sectors experienced decline: construction - 6.2%, trade - 0.1%, energy facilities - 8.7%. At the same time, the foreign trade turnover in Jan-Aug 2016 totaled 1,500.2bln drams ($3,114.7) with a 4.6% year over year growth. Export grew 18.9% to 544bln drams ($1,129.7mln) and imports fell 2.1% to 956.2bln drams ($1.985 mln).