YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–The "Yerevanian Beer" brewery is planning to increase its production output by 50% next year–director of the enterprise Hakop Hakopian said. He mentioned–however–that the lack of funds impedes the swift increase in production output.
Hakopian said that after the brewery was privatized in 1997–the administration launched reconstruction of the enterprise and upgraded the equipment. The reconstruction of the bottling shop has been almost completed. Besides–a new production line was purchased at the expense of a credit allocated by the World Bank this May (407,000 USD at 1.5% interest rate per month).
The products of the brewery are being sold in Armenia (95%)–Karabakh (3%) and Georgia. Negotiations are under way to supply the Armenian beer on the U.S. and Russian markets. Hakopian said that high transport expenses do not allow the enterprise to increase exports. Currently the brewery works on raw materials brought from Europe.
Hakopian said that no preservatives are used for preparing the beer. He also added that the brewery has no problems related to the sale of its products.
According to Hakopian–the excise duty for beer (50%) imposed by the Armenian government is too high and does not promote local production. Hakopian said that in other countries the excise duty for beer does not exceed 20%.
Currently there 235 people working at the brewery. The average salary paid at the enterprise is 28,000-30,000 drams.
In 1987-1988 the "Yerevanian beer" brewery produced 1,700,000 decaliters of various beverages. In 1997 503,300 decaliters of beer were produced in Armenia.