Armenia considers possibility of canceling excise tax for winemakers

ArmInfo.Armenia is considering the possibility of canceling the excise tax for winemakers. This was discussed at the meeting of acting Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan with representatives of 40 wine and brandy  enterprises.

 According to founder of the Voskevaz winery, David  Hovhannisyan, such changes will provide an opportunity for the  creation of new medium and small wineries. In addition, as he noted,  the participants of the meeting discussed the necessary changes in  the state program related to the lands for founding vineyards, with  which there have been serious problems for several years.

In turn, acting Minister of Economy announced the decision to  eliminate bureaucratic problems that impede flexible implementation  of government programs. "We have good programs, but bureaucracy  creates various obstacles. We promised to eliminate them so that the  wine industry breathes and grows as quickly as possible," Kerobyan  stressed. According to the Ministry of Economy, the meeting  participants also discussed the preparation and organization of the  grape harvesting process.  In this regard, it was noted that this  year one should expect quite serious volumes in comparison with last  year, the development of which was influenced by the situation with  the coronavirus and military events.

In addition, head of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia Zara  Muradyan recalled that this year a platform for online sale of  Armenian wines will be opened in Berlin. According to her, Armenia  will deliver to Germany a consolidated cargo of 96 types of Armenian  wines produced by 34 enterprises. According to the Statistical  Committee of Armenia, in January-May 2021, wine production in Armenia  increased by 42.5%, amounting to 4.6 million liters, against a  decline of 28.3% a year earlier. At the same time, the volumes of  brandy produced in Armenia increased by 27.4% to 15.9 million liters  (instead of a decline of 14.9% in the same period a year earlier) .