Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijani producer of alcoholic beverages, Az-Granata, is to send a test export batch of wine and brandy to Russia, Director of the company for alcohol production, Vugar Mikayilov, told Trend.
He noted that a test batch will be delivered to "Food City", the largest wholesale food distribution center in Russia, which is located in Moscow.
"For now, we ship a test batch of wine and brandy. Supplies may be increased depending on customer demand. Food City is the largest wholesale center, from where products are distributed throughout Russia," Mikayilov said.
Given the growth in exports of alcoholic beverages in recent years, it can be assumed that this trend will continue in 2019 as well, Mikayilov noted.
"The fact is that grape orchards were planted after 2007, and it takes at least 10 years to get a crop. Accordingly, we observed growth after 2017," Mikayilov said. "Great support for entrepreneurship in this area is provided by the state. Thanks to state support, local winemakers take part in various international exhibitions. For example, this month, local wine products will be showcased at Prodexpo exhibitions in Russia and ProWein in Germany."
The state support is mainly aimed at developing the brand “Made in Azerbaijan”, which is important from the point of view of the development of export potential, he noted.
“As for the domestic market, there are also great prospects there, given that last year alone Georgia increased wine supplies to Azerbaijan by 20 times. In quantitative terms, more than 197,000 bottles were supplied, and this is quite a big figure for Azerbaijan. All this shows that Azerbaijan should master the market. As for the export of Azerbaijani wine, there are great achievements in this regard. For example, three years ago, Absheron Sharab’s exports hardly reached 10,000 bottles, but in 2018, this plant exported over 1.4 million bottles worth over $2 million," he said.
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