ArmInfo. Industrial sector of Armenia in the first quarter of 2021 reduced production by 3.9% per annum (against 8.7% growth a year earlier), amounting to 470.4 billion drams ($ 897.5 million). But in March alone, the volume increased by 9.1% - to 175.2 billion drams ($ 332.1 million).
This is evidenced by the data of the RA Statistical Committee. The deterioration of dynamics in the industrial sector is due to the continuing (since March 2020) decline in the dominant manufacturing industry, while the mining industry continues to increase its volumes. In particular, in the first quarter of 2021 versus the same period in 2020 the mining industry and open pit development slowed down the annual growth - from 26.9% to 8.1% to 129.5 billion drams. And in March alone, the mining industry provided growth of 14.8% - up to 47.8 billion drams. The volume of the manufacturing industry in the first quarter of 2021 decreased in y-o-y terms by 11.6% (against growth by 3.8% a year earlier) - to 258.1 billion drams, with an increase of 8.6% in March alone - to 99.1 billion drams.
Moreover, in the manufacturing industry in the first quarter of 2021, the production of jewelry declined by 78.6%, printing products - by 60.1%, finished metal products - by 52.1%, the chemical industry - by 33%, cigarettes - by 28 , 4%, basic metals - by 12.7%, furniture - by 9.7%, drinks - by 4% .
Significant growth was recorded in the production of electrical equipment - 3.2-fold, computers, electronic and optical equipment - by 89.9%, machinery and equipment - by 74.2%, textiles - by 73.2%, clothing - by 40,1%. A more modest growth was recorded in the production of pharmaceutical products - by 19.3%, rubber and plastic products - by 16.4%, other non-metallic products - by 15.5%, and the volume of food production grew very miserably- by 0.1%.
In the manufacturing sector, the leaders in terms of production are food (94.2 billion drams), basic metals (37.9 billion), beverages (35.6 billion drams) and cigarettes (27.5 billion). According to statistics, the supply of electricity, gas, steam and conditioned air in general increased in the first quarter of 2021 by 11.2% against the same period of 2020 (against 11.7% growth a year earlier) - up to 77.8 billion drams, against the background of monthly growth by 1.4% - up to 26.6 billion drams. Moreover, the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity during the reporting period increased by 12.2% per annum, amounting to 61 billion drams, while gas production, distribution of gaseous fuel through gas supply systems increased by 7.3%, providing a volume of 16.8 billion drams. Revenues from water supply, waste treatment and processing and production of secondary raw materials for the reporting period increased by 0.9% - up to 5 billion drams.
Note that in 2020, the industrial sector of Armenia showed a decline of 0.9%, amounting to 2.070 trillion drams ($ 4.2 billion), against 9% growth in 2019. The change from the upward dynamics to the downward one was triggered mainly by the slowdown in the growth of the mining sector and the recession in the manufacturing industry that has been continuing since March. In particular, the growth in the mining industry by 11.6% to 403.1 billion drams was accompanied by a decline in the processing industry by 3.9% to 1.4 trillion drams.
