BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar.17
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan expects an increase in the production of wine products in 2021, Elchin Madatov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Wine Producers and Exporters Association, told Trend.
According to the chairman, the founding of a vineyard, the construction and commissioning of wineries require big investments.
"Now it is very difficult to plan anything, since there is no clarity with the lifting of COVID-19 related restrictive measures, the full restoration of the activities of trade and tourist facilities. It will be very difficult to reach the level of 2019, but in any case, production and sales volumes will be higher than in 2020," Madatov said.
The association chairman also said that Azerbaijan reduced the export of wine products by 60 percent in 2020, while exports to Ukraine and Belarus had increased, Madatov said.
This year, the association also looks to increase the export of wine products to Israel, he added.
"On March 1, 2021, the law on preferential trade came into force, which provides for a reduction or abolition of tariffs for the import of Azerbaijani wines to Turkey. Afterward, we expect a significant growth in the supply of products to this country this year," Madatov said.
The main exporters of Azerbaijani wine products are Shaki, Jalilabad, Ganja, Goygol wineries, as well as a number of other private companies engaged in the production of alcoholic beverages.
The volume of wine production in Azerbaijan in 2020 amounted to over 500,000 decaliters. In 2019, a record grape crop was harvested in Azerbaijan - more than 190,000 tons, which is 30 percent more compared to 2018.
