ArmInfo. Armenia intends to increase wine export volumes in the Canadian market. Deputy Minister of Economy Avag Avanesyan announced this on April 7 during a meeting of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.
He noted that at this stage, contacts were established with Canadian partners and negotiations are underway on the export of Armenian wine, the taste of which is highly valued in Canada. In particular, the Deputy Minister drew attention to the fact that alcoholic beverages are imported centrally into the Canadian market. "There is a state organization that deals with imports, after which the private sector already operates retail," he said.
In general, according to the minister, Armenian wines, despite small volumes of production, should occupy niches in the markets of European countries with high incomes. In this regard, he recalled that by the end of 2021 the period of validity of the GSP + regime will end for Armenia, which allows exporting a number of goods at zero customs duty to the markets of the EU countries. <We do not have any preferential terms or agreements, as, for example, our neighbors Georgians. However, I believe that we all need to first of all work to increase the recognition of Armenian wines, which is more important than customs duties>, Avanesyan emphasized.
To recall, according to the RA Statistical Committee, the volume of wine produced in Armenia in 2019 accelerated the growth rate from 0.3% to 31.6%, amounting to 12.6 million liters. According to the RA Customs Service, in 2019, Armenia exported over 2.7 million liters of wine, with an annual growth of 11.4%, with an increase in customs value by 25.1% to $ 11.8 million.
At the same time, the volume of Armenian wine supplied to the Canadian market is only 10.2 thousand liters, which is 44% more than the annual indicator, the customs value increased by 39% to $ 77.6 thousand.