ArmInfo.The size of the state duty of 14 thousand drams per ton of cement imported into Armenia will remain until July 1, 2020. At a meeting on February 13, the government of the country approved amendments to the law "On State Duty", which will be submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic in the prescribed manner.
As the Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Avag Avanesyan noted in his speech, the state duty on imported cement expires on April 1, and therefore there was a need to extend these terms in order to study the situation and make a final decision. The deputy minister emphasized that recently there has been a tendency to reduce the supply of cement of Iranian origin to the Armenian market, while at the same time, the supply of clinker, which is the main raw material for cement production, has almost tripled. So, if in 2018 19 thousand tons of cement were imported from Iran to Armenia, then in 2019 this figure dropped to 16.8 thousand tons. At the same time, if in 2018, 2,800 tons of clinker were delivered to the republic, then a year later these volumes increased to 8 thousand tons. The deputy minister stressed that the current law has played a role, however, in the short term, it is necessary to analyze the situation in order to exclude cartel conspiracies in the market.
Recall that the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, at its plenary meeting on April 19, 2019, approved the government draft amendments on the State Duty, which envisaged an increase in the duty on imported cement. According to the bill, the duty amounted to 14 thousand drams per ton instead of the originally proposed 22 thousand drams. Thus, the government set itself the task of equalizing the capabilities of domestic producers with importers. Meanwhile, there was a heated debate over the absence of clinker provisions in the document, which the Prosperous Armenia faction insisted on, whose leader Gagik Tsarukyan, in fact, was the owner of Araratcement CJSC. The absence of clinker, according to the deputies from the faction, will lead to a reduction in the majority of employees of the enterprise. Meanwhile, according to the data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, in September 2018, cement production in Armenia decreased by 23.34% and amounted to 44 thousand tons. In total, in January-September 2018, 401 thousand tons of cement were produced compared to 251 thousand tons in January-September 2017.
Recall that in Armenia there are two cement plants - Ararat and Hrazdan and gadzh factory, which also produces cement
