Grape purchase price to be higher this year

YEREVAN, May 15. /ARKA/. Armenian wineries will be ready later this year to pay a 15-20% higher price for one kg of grape, the head of the Union of Wine-Makers Avag Harutyunyan told journalists today.

He said according to forecasts the yield this year is expected to be high, and the purchase price will be quite high too. He added, however, that the overall volume of the crop will not grow, although new vineyards have been planted, but they are expected to start yielding in 4-5 years.

He said the demand for grape is growing because the operating wineries increase output and because new wineries have been set up. Given that the overall area are under grape has not changed much, the purchase price is going to be higher than in 2018.

According to him, the higher purchase price will also affect exports: if the bulk of wines exported from Armenia costs about $3.2-3.3 per bottle, the higher purchase price will affect the cost of a bottle of Armenia-made wine as well. He said a legislation that bans the use of other raw materials other than grape in the manufacture of grape wines is another factor that will force wineries to buy more grapes.

In his words, some 2.5 million liters of wine made by individuals were sold in Armenia two years ago, although the total production volume was 8 million liters, not counting the amount of wine that individual producers used.

Besides, he said, the amount of home-made vodka has increased. It is not registered, though accounts for 25% of the market.

He said over the last 10 years, the volume of vodka production has been dropping from the highest figure of 14 million liters to 8 million liters now - 0-