In Armenia, the upper threshold of the loan provided to the procurers  to fulfill financial obligations to winegrowers will be raised

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the upper threshold of the loan provided to procurers to fulfill  financial obligations to winegrowers will be raised. The decision on  this was made at a meeting of the RA Government on October 17.

According to the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia  Tigran Khachatryan, the upper limit rises from the current 1.5  billion drams to 1.8 billion drams. The Minister emphasized that the  basis for such a decision was the events in Vayots Dzor region, where  local residents protested against the reduction in purchase prices  for grapes closed the Yerevan - Meghri highway. According to Tigran  Khachatryan, he together with the Minister of Territorial  Administration and Infrastructures Suren Papikyan met with  winegrowers, with whom the current situation was discussed. Following  the discussions, an agreement was reached on quick payment for the  delivered harvest of Kharji grapes. As a result, the problem, which  concerned about 70 tons of white grapes, is practically solved.

Tigran Khachatryan reminded that the RA government provides  preferential credit system to the procurers of the grape procurement  process. In particular, the loan is provided at an annual rate of  12%, of which the state budget co-finances 9%. Thus, borrowers will  pay only 3% of the loan amount. The Minister also noted that the  maximum loan amount per borrower was increased from 150 million drams  to 1 billion drams, however, only a quarter of this loan is actually  used.

In turn, the Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan suggested  developing pricing mechanisms in order to have projected volumes of  sales and purchases for at least five years.  On October 10, Prime  Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan at a cabinet meeting announced  that there would be no problems with the purchase of grapes in  Armenia this year. Meanwhile, already on October 12, residents of the  village of Aghavnadzor in the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia closed  the Yerevan- Meghri highway as the protest against the reduction in  purchase prices for grapes. As the peasants noted last year, Kharji  grapes were processed by the processing enterprises at 470 drams per  kilogram (almost $ 1), now the procurers, who guaranteed its purchase  last year at the same price, do not give more than 225 drams. As they  stated, the procurers themselves do not make contact with farmers.  And again, the last hope is the power, which, according to the  villagers, is obliged to take up the resolution of the issue, finally  embarking on its regulatory functions.

To recall, in 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia, in order  to solve the problems with large debts of processing enterprises to  farmers, and to provide working capital for procurers, in a pilot  mode proposed a new affordable lending program for processing  enterprises. According to the authors of the initiative, this will  allow introducing a new culture of contractual relations between the  farmer and the procurers, as well as making payments for deliveries  immediately. Given the size of state subsidies at 9%, the annual  interest rate for borrowers actually decreased to 3%. In 2018, the  loan portfolio of the program was expanded from 2.4 billion drams to  18 billion drams, and the maximum loan size per borrower was  increased from 150 million drams to 1 billion drams.

It should be noted that a week ago Deputy Minister of Economy of the  Republic of Armenia Avag Harutyunyan noted that in the current year  the volumes of grape purchases exceeded the figures of the previous  year by 37%. According to him, as of October 9, 160 thousand tons of  grapes had already been purchased, of which 90 largest tons were  purchased by the three largest harvesters. At the same time, the  purchase price from last year's 140-145 drams per 1 kg this year  increased to 150-155 drams. The deputy minister noted that the season  for the purchase of grapes for cognac production is nearing the end,  as for grape raw materials for wine production, it is still envisaged  to purchase about 3-5 thousand tons of grapes