ArmInfo.The coronavirus affected not so much the volumes of alcohol production in Armenia, as the export of alcoholic beverages produced in the country, the volumes of which in all segments shows a negative trend in the first half of 2020. This is evidenced by the data of the RA Customs Service.
In particular, in the first half of 2020, Armenia exported 901.9 thousand liters of wines, with a decline over the year by 30.6% (against growth by 16.5% last year), with a decline in customs value by 24.7% to $ 3.2 million. Traditionally, the main export market for Armenian wine is the Russian Federation, which share accounts for 69.8% of exports, instead of 72.3% in the first half of 2019, followed by the United States with a share of 8.9% (instead of 3.4% a year earlier), Switzerland - 5.5% (instead of 4%), France - 2.9% (instead of 1.8%), Italy - 2.3% (instead of 1.5%), Argentina - 1.4% (whereas a year earlier Argentina did not figure), Belarus -1.1% (instead of 0.8% a year earlier), China - 1% (instead of 5% a year earlier), as well as Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Israel, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Canada, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, India, Australia, United Kingdom and others. Export of beer in the 1st half of 2020 decreased by 56.7% (instead of 22.5% growth in the same period of 2019) to 396.8 thousand liters, while the customs value fell by 57.5% to $ 316 thousand. The main market for export supplies of Armenian beer is also the Russian Federation, having reduced the share from 85.4% a year earlier to 64.6% at the end of the reporting period, the USA (with a share of 11.2% instead of 4% last year), France - 8.6% (instead of 2%), Poland 5 , 5% (instead of 3.9%), Argentina 2.7% (whereas a year earlier Argentina did not figure), Georgia - 2.5% (instead of 1%), Belgium - 2.2% (whereas a year earlier, the share of the Belgian market was insignificant), Ukraine - 2% (instead of 1.6%), Canada - 0.5% (instead of 0.2%).
In January-July, Armenia reduced the export of ethyl alcohol (strength up to 80 degrees), including alcohol- containing drinks, liqueur and other alcoholic beverages, by 22.7% (while a 4.5% increase was recorded a year earlier) to 9.9 million liters. At the same time, the customs value amounted to $ 82.8 million, which is 14.1% less than a year ago.
The lion's share of ethyl alcohol exports falls on the Russian market with a share of 88.2% (instead of a share of 90.4% in the same period of 2019), the remaining volume was distributed among a number of countries, including Belarus 3.5% (instead of 1, 8%), Ukraine - 4.2% (instead of 3%), Georgia - 0.7% (instead of 0.6%), Kazakhstan - 0.6% (instead of 0.4%), the USA - 0.4%, Germany - 0.3% (instead of 0.2%), France -0.1% (instead of 5%), as well as Moldova, Czech Republic, China, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Israel, Lebanon, Canada, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, United Kingdom, Mongolia, etc.
For some unknown reason, the RA Customs Service does not publish the export figures for brandy separately. It should be reminded that according to the data of the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, during the reporting period 15.1 million liters of brandy were produced, which is 14.7% less than a year ago, against an increase of 44% a year earlier over the same period. The volume of wine produced in Armenia decreased by 31.7% (against growth by 42.8% a year earlier), amounting to 3.9 million liters, including sparkling wine (champagne) - by 33.8% to 167.3 thousand liters.
The production of vodka, liqueur and other alcoholic beverages decreased by 20.8% to 1.6 million liters, and beer - by 13.3% to 10.5 million liters.
According to statistics, 96.4 thousand liters of whiskey were produced in Armenia during the reporting period, which is 77.2% less than a year ago .
