The measure announced in late April caused significant delays in several Armenian brandy companies’ shipments carried out through Georgian territory. The companies say the checks take many weeks, causing them to miss their delivery deadlines and incur major losses. Some of them have suspended their production operations as a result.
The checks supposedly involving laboratory quality inspections baffled the affected exporters, They argue that their products only transit Georgia and are not sold there. Georgian authorities have said only that all customs and sanitary procedures administered by them conform to international standards.
The Armenian government has intervened on the exporters’ behalf, discussing the issue with the Georgian side in recent weeks. Georgian Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture David Songulashvili was due to arrive Yerevan for further talks last Friday. But he cancelled the visit at the last minute.
The Economy Ministry told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Yerevan has still not received a “substantiated clarification” of the problems with the transit of Armenian brandy shipments through Georgia.
In a statement, the ministry also said: “In essence, no formal inspections [of Armenian brandy] have taken place, so it is difficult to predict whether [the delays] will be repeated or not.”
As of last week, more than 100 Armenian trucks loaded with brandy were reportedly held up in Georgia pending the results of supposed quality tests. Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan said June 5 that 52 trucks have finally been allowed to proceed to Russia while the others remain stuck in Georgia.
According to government data, Armenia produced more than 220 billion drams ($560 million) worth of beverages last year. Brandy accounted for most of that figure. The bulk of it is exported to Russia.