Shipments carried out by several Armenian brandy firms were effectively disrupted following Georgian authorities’ introduction in late April of physical checks on the alcoholic beverage. Many trucks loaded with brandy have since been held up in Georgia pending the results of lengthy quality tests. Citing this “congestion,” the Armenian customs service temporarily banned on June 10 other trucks from entering the neighboring country en route to Russia.
The affected exporters heavily dependent on the Russian market have suffered major losses because of missing delivery deadlines. Some of them have suspended their operations as a result.
Armenian officials have repeatedly raised the matter with the authorities in Tbilisi in recent weeks. The latter have still not publicly given a clear reason for the transit checks.
Papoyan and the head of Armenia’s State Revenue Committee, Eduard Hakobian, held talks with their Georgian counterparts in Tbilisi on Monday. Papoyan announced afterwards that more than 150 Armenian trucks stuck at a Georgian customs terminal will be allowed to proceed to Russia in the coming days. For its part, Yerevan will unblock the entry of other brandy trucks into Georgia, he said in a Facebook post.
“An agreement was also reached on organizing from now on the export process of Armenian bottled cognac (Armenian brandy) on mutually acceptable and predictable terms,” added the minister. He gave no details of that agreement.
One of the Armenian firms, the Proshian Brandy Factor, said that none of its 19 trucks was able to leave the Gezi terminal as of Tuesday afternoon. A senior company executive, Gayane Poghosian, wondered whether the deal announced by Papoyan will remove the hurdles to its vital exports.
“We expect a solution whereby trucks don’t enter the [Georgian] Gezi customs terminal and are not held up by the Georgian side,” Poghosian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “That would be the solution to the problem.”
According to government data, Armenia produced more than 220 billion drams ($560 million) worth of beverages last year. Brandy distilled from grapes accounted for most of that figure. The bulk of it is exported to Russia.