Armenian Agriculture Minister gives rational explanation for low prices for Armenian apricot

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.