ArmInfo.In the first half of 2018, 127.1 thousand tons of wheat were imported to Armenia, with a slowdown in y-o-y growth of up to 12.9% from last year's 61.4%. According to the RA Customs Service, the cost of imported wheat is estimated at $ 24.8 million, with a y- o-y growth of 2.7%. The dominant volume (98.3%) of wheat was imported into Armenia from the Russian Federation (with a y-o-y growth of 11.8%), and the rest from Georgia (with a y-o-y growth of 2.6-fold).
At the same time, Armenia reduced wheat exports by 86.4% to 2 tons, the entire volume of which was exported to USA. The customs value, respectively, decreased by 46.3% to $ 2.2 thousand.
Against this background, imports of wheat flour increased grew 2.5 -fold- to 19.4 thousand tons, with a total value of $ 2.7 million (with a y-o-y growth of 54.9%). Russia holds the leading position also in the import of wheat flour - 99.6% (with a y-o-y growth of 2.6-fold), and the rest was imported from Poland, Kazakhstan, Italy, Belarus, France and Germany.
According to the Customs Service of Armenia, Armenia has started exporting wheat flour. The whole volume - 38 tons for a total of $ 13.9 thousand were exported to Iraq.
At the same time, grain imports to Armenia increased in the first half of 2018 compared with the same period of 2017 by 11% (against a growth of 11.6% a year earlier) to 2.6 thousand tons. At the same time, the customs value of imported grain decreased by 37.4% to $ 962.2 thousand. The main importer of grain was also Russia (97%), followed by the United States, Argentina, Finland, Belarus, Germany and China.
To note, two large companies produce flour in Armenia - "Alex-Grig" and "Manana Grain", they also import wheat. "Alex-Grig" company (owned by the family of the Armenian oligarch, MP Samvel Aleksanyan) dominates on the wheat and flour market, the share of which accounts for over 42% of the market, Manana Grain is also a major player - over 36%. Thus, "Alex-Grig" and "Manana Grain" provide about 80% of the domestic market of Armenia. "Manana Grain" LLC is also one of the largest importers of grain to Armenia (over 34% of the market).