YEREVAN. – The Yerevan Brandy Factory will start purchasing grapes tomorrow, the Factory’s Executive Director Ara Grigoryan said during a press conference on Wednesday. And just like in the year past, the grapes will be purchased for 130 (35 cents US) drams/kg, in the Ararat Plain, and 120 (32 cents) drams/kg, in Tavush region. According to Grigoryan, the difference in this purchase price lies in the fact that the grapes of Tavush region have less  sugar content than those of the Ararat Plain, yet better quality alcohol is distilled from the Tavush grapes.

Ara Grigoryan also informed that this year the Factory will purchase 20,000 tons of grapes, adding that the Factory has a huge alcohol reserve because in the last 3 years it purchased around 30,000 tons of surplus grapes. And as a result, the Factory did not have any more empty barrels to stock alcohol. So, in order to again have empty barrels, the Factory reduced the price of its brandy being sold abroad, and thus  sales increased by 9 percent, but profits reduced by 25 percent. And sales grew primarily on the account of Europe.          

In Grigoryan’s words, a way out of this situation is the sale of alcohol. In the July 2010-June 2011 fiscal year, the Yerevan Brandy Factory exported 2.8 million liters of brandy and profits reached 2.4 billion drams ($6,408,227).