ArmInfo.This year, the coronavirus made us see a rather interesting, but unfortunately disappointing message about the state of the Armenian domestic wine market. Director of the Vine and Wine Foundation Zaruhi Muradyan shared this opinion in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent.
In particular, she noted that, analyzing the situation on the domestic market during the current year, it became obvious that, unfortunately, Armenian wine is consumed exclusively in restaurants and open cafes. Consequently, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, which hit a number of areas, including catering, the level of domestic consumption in the country fell sharply. According to Ms. Muradyan, if in recent years of active work aimed at stimulating the winemaking sector, the level of wine consumption per capita has increased from 1-2 to 3.5 liters, then due to lokdun, the country has returned to the previous level. <We never thought about it for the simple reason that we didn't have to. When the borders were open, tourists actively consumed Armenian wine, in addition, various events and campaigns were held. Figuratively speaking, the coronavirus has drawn our attention to the internal situation. And today we face a rather painful fact. But on the other hand, this is a kind of challenge for us that it is necessary to concentrate our programs on the domestic market, including more intensive work to improve the culture of wine consumption in everyday life, "said the head of the Foundation.
In this regard, she noted that, observing such an unfavorable situation, the Vine and Wine Foundation initiated a series of television programs of an educational nature. In particular, wine-making companies of Armenia were presented and information on how to choose the right wine, consume it, etc was provided. In addition, it is planned to develop an application - a kind of wine guide with the aim of stimulating domestic tourism, which will provide the necessary information about Armenian wine. To note, according to the RA Statistical Committee, in January-October 2020, the volume of wine produced in Armenia decreased by 17.9% per annum to 7.8 million liters, with an increase of 19% in October - to 1.2 million liters.
According to the RA Customs Service, in the first half of 2020 Armenia exported 901.9 thousand liters of wine, 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 Russia, which 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% (while Argentina did not figure a year earlier), 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, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, etc.
