ArmInfo. The Minister of Agriculture of Armenia, Ignaty Arakelyan, said after the government meeting in a conversation with journalists, the development around the agricultural holding Spayka and the depreciation of prices for the apricot exported from Armenia, explained by market relations in the modern economy.
As he said, for today in the conditions of market relations the market defines cost of the goods. "There are a number of exporting companies and numerous farms that grow apricots, the price of the goods is determined by the market, and we can not coordinate this, if there are violations, we need to contact the relevant departments," the minister said.
As for possible collusion between exporters and price dumping, then, as Ignaty Arakelyan pointed out, for this purpose there is an antimonopoly commission where he advised to apply. At the same time, the minister recalled that the purchase prices depend on the amount of the crop of apricots. "I do not think that in conditions of small crop volumes, prices would fall so much in the market," the minister said, urging not to forget that due to unfavorable weather conditions, the process of export of agricultural products from Armenia started with some late in the season of low prices. "Everything has a logical explanation," stressed the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.
A week earlier, prices for apricot exported from Armenia began to fall precipitously. Residents of Jrashan village of Ararat region blocked the road in protest against artificially low prices for exported apricots. The Ministry of Agriculture, represented by Deputy Minister Robert Makaryan, explained low prices by the fact that this year the apricot season began 10 days later in Armenia, and during this period apricots from Uzbekistan and other countries appeared on the Russian market, reducing prices. The villagers themselves said that the buyers, in particular the agroholding "Spayka", violated the agreement and instead of 600-800 AMD per kilogram they wanted to pay 400. As the media reported, in recent days, "Spayka", taking advantage of its great opportunities, "closed" for all other apricot exporters the largest wholesale market in the city of Krasnodar. "Roza Vetrov". "Apricot exporters from Armenia come to the market, they say that they will accept apricot only from "Spikes". On the spot, the drivers were informed that to receive such a monopoly Spayka paid a large amount to directorate," wrote Araik Harutyunyan, member of the Yelk faction in the Council of Elders of Yerevan, on his Facebook page.
To note, in the "Spayka", last week, the Yerevan municipality allocated a land plot with an area of more than 160 hectares.