ArmInfo.The Armenian government proposes to extend the duration of state duties on cement imported from Iran and several other countries until July 1. On March 18, the Deputy Minister of Economy Avag Avanesyan informed about such intention during the sitting of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.
This decision, he said, was made on the basis of the results of the analysis, which confirmed that the extension of the customs duties is appropriate. "We intend to monitor the process during this period, and depending on the market situation, strengthen or, on the contrary, weaken the protection mechanisms," he emphasized.
Avanesyan noted that the cost of cement imported from Iran is at an unprecedented low level for a number of reasons, including due to the economic downturn, which, according to him, is a short-term process. "Therefore, the government, given the current temporary situation, introduced this duty to balance the competitiveness of Armenian producers, which was entirely justified," he explained.
After lengthy discussions, the Committee approved the decision of the government, however, extending the validity of customs duties until the end of 2020 with the possibility, if necessary, to reduce this period.
To recall, on April 19, 2019, after lengthy and heated discussions, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted on first reading amendments to the laws "On State Duty" and "On Alerting Activities," which envisaged a period of one year - until April 2020, to establish the state duty in the amount of 22 thousand drams for each ton of imported cement, thereby protecting the interests of domestic producers.
It should be noted that two cement plants operate in Armenia - Ararat and Hrazdan plant.
According to the RA Statistical Committee, in 2019, Armenia produced 590.5 thousand tons of cement, which is 8.1% higher than the previous year. At the same time, according to the RA Customs Service, during the reporting period, Armenia imported 309.9 thousand tons of cement (with a y-o-y growth of 70.5%), while the customs value increased by 3.6% to $ 27.4 million. It is worth noting that the lion's share of imported cement to Armenia (96.4%) falls on Iran, with an increase in supply by 75.1%.
