At the RA Ministry of Economy, Minister Vahan Kerobyan met with a number of representatives of local poultry production companies to discuss the current problems of the poultry production sector in the country and opportunities for solution thereof, as well as perspectives for development of the sector. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister Tigran Gabrielyan and the President of the Poultry producers’ union of Armenia Sergey Stepanyan.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister informed that the customs duty on poultry imported to Armenia from 2022 will increase sharply, which should be regarded as an opportunity to develop the poultry production sector in the country. Vahan Kerobyan urged that as a result of joint discussions effective means should be found to increase the scope of local production of poultry and eggs and stimulate exports.

Speaking about the problems, the Minister of Economy stressed that the main obstacle to doing business in Armenia is the unavailability of financial resources, and it is necessary to ensure access to finances for business, to help local producers employ their full potential and create a modernized market.

Emphasizing the importance of taking practical steps to meet the challenges in the sector, develop the sector and make it competitive, Vahan Kerobyan said that the state is already taking certain actions in this direction. As an example, he particularly mentioned the changes envisaged in the state support program of leasing – the financial lending of equipment in the agricultural and food sector of the Republic of Armenia, according to which the threshold of the total cost of the equipment purchased within the framework of the program will increase from 450.0 million AMD to 1 billion AMD.

The President of the Poultry producers’ union of Armenia Sergey Stepanyan briefly presented the current state of the poultry production industry, noting that 2019 is considered to be the most successful year in terms of the scope of poultry produced. According to him, even though the results of 2020 are a little behind the indicators of the previous year, yet they are sufficient, which was partly due to the pandemic.

During the meeting, a number of issues were discussed related to ensuring high quality of local poultry and eggs in domestic and foreign markets, increasing the competitiveness, expanding the sales markets, legal regulation of the egg production market, the necessity of tightening the quality control of imported poultry, and applying other state mechanisms in the sector.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the establishment of a state-supported pedigree economy in the country, which will reduce the dependence of local producers on imports.

Summing up the results of the discussion, Minister Vahan Kerobyan noted that all the issues raised will be thoroughly studied by the Ministry and appropriate measures will be taken to solve them.