Tuesday, September 8 2015 09:33

 Given the high yields of grapes this year, it was decided to purchase from winegrowers all 35 thousand tons, despite the fact that the Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) could be limited to 30 thous. tons. This was told by Igor Arakelian, Chief Operation Officer on September 7 at the opening of the season of grapes procurement.

The procurement of grapes started today at YBC branch in Armavir (Armavir region), in Aygavan branch (Ararat region) it will start on September 8, the city branch Berd (Tavush region) - September 14. The price for 1 kg of grapes was set at 150 AMD for branches in Armavir and Aygavan and 140 AMD for the branch of Tavush region. The amount for the provided grapes of each farmer will receive within 3-4 days after the date of handover of the harvest. Each farmer, cooperating with YBC, is informed about the day, time and the quantity of grapes to be received from him in advance. The company allocated more than AMD 5 billion for the purchase of grapes. As the Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan said, this year's grape harvest will exceed last year's by 10-15%.

According to the Chief Operation Officer of the Yerevan Brandy Company, this year the company continued its program of interest-free credit of fertilizer worth about AMD 250 million. Under this program, winegrowers cooperating with YBC can receive all the necessary fertilizers, with the right of payback the debt in the period of purchase of harvest. As Arakelyan noted, in Tavush region YBC also began to implement the program of assistance to farmers, providing them with fertilizers (fertilizer, phosphorus, Kalium, nitrogen Ed.) amounting to approximately AMD 15 million. As part of this program for 5 years is expected to increase yields by 40% s. 

With regard to external markets of sale of the Armenian brandy, then, according to the Chief Operation Officer of YBC, no obvious change was observed in this year. "Russia has traditionally been our main market - Russia accounts for about 75% of total sales of cognac of YBC. There were some difficulties due to the depreciation of the ruble and the general state of the Russian economy, but we managed to keep the leading position in the Russian market by maintaining prices for the products. As a result - we meet the expectations of our farmers and had not abandoned them alone with their problems,"- said Arakelyan. 

In the Armavir branch of the YBC the Minister of Agriculture was introduced with a new compartment of distillation plant, which is already equipped with three sets of distillers for single and double distillation. In the near future the number is expected to increase up to 8. The devices were manufactured by the French professional company Chalvignac Group, which has 100 years of experience in this area. The total investment for this project amounted to AMD 1 635 million. Work on the new distillation workshop will begin on November 1. As noted by the YBC, for the moment no new devices are designed to replace and supplement the existing distillation capacity. 

To recall that the Yerevan Brandy Company is the exclusive manufacturer ArArAt brandy, is the successor to the traditions laid down in Armenia in 1887. YBC is the largest taxpayer and purchaser of grapes. In 1999, Yerevan Brandy Company has entered into an international group Pernod Ricard, a world leader in the production of alcoholic beverages, whose portfolio includes such brands as Chivas (Scotch whiskey), Absolut (the Swedish vodka), Martell (French brandy), Jameson (Irish whiskey), and others. French Pernod Ricard Group unites 96 enterprises (including YBC) and 19 thousand workers. The founder of the group is the Paul Ricard - a major French industrialist and the inventor of the famous anisette "Pastis ".