Armenian wineries ready to purchase 140,000 tons of grape
Armenian wineries and other processing enterprises plan to purchase 140 thousand tons of grapes this year, deputy agriculture minister Robert Markaryan said today.
Speaking at a news conference he said three wineries have already started this process having purchased so far about 1.4 thousand tons of grapes, while the biggest buyer - the Yerevan Brandy Company- said it will buy as much as 30,000 tons.
According to the deputy minister, some wineries still owe 84.3 million drams to winegrowers for grapes they bought last year. He said the government suggested that wineries which have debts for purchased grape get low-interest rate loans (3%) to pay their debts.
On September 1, agriculture minister Ignaty Arakelyan said last year the wineries purchased about 110 thousand tons of grapes. He also said this year’s crop will be 10% less than in 2016 due to the cold winter. ($ 1 - 478.25 drams). -0-