More import than export

14/09/2006 Anahit DANIELYAN

Karabakh imports different products and food from Armenia and other countries. For instance, Karabakh imports fruit, vegetables and other products from Armenia. Notwithstanding, Karabakh has agricultural products too, but some kinds of fruit are not grown there and are imported from Armenia. One of those fruits is the apricot. Statistics show that there is a high demand for those products in Karabakh. What does Karabakh export and where does it export products? Karabakh exports huge capacities of vodka and grain, which are mainly sold in the Armenian market. One of the biggest companies of Karabakh that produce alcohol, “Karabakh Gold”, sells its products only in Armenia. As for another big company that produces alcohol as well, “Artsakh Alco”, it exports its products to other countries as well. The whole capacity of the grain exported is sold in the Armenian market.

Karabakh also exports pomegranate, nuts and meat. They export meat mainly on the threshold of the Christmas time. There are even people and families in Karabakh that work only for their Armenian clients. Meat is the only product that is not imported in Karabakh.

For over seven years A. Avanesyan has been involved in trade: he imports and exports products. He imports tomato and pepper in summer from Armenia, and in autumn he exports pomegranate and nuts to Sisian city and trades it with potato. He says that he can keep his family that consists of five persons with this small business.

According to the statistics, Karabakh imports more than it exports. According to analyzers, the country has all the necessary possibilities and sources to organize export in a better way, but there are some obstacles that don’t let local people export their products. Those obstacles are the fact that Karabakh is not recognized internationally, it has problems with the ways of export and the governmental mechanisms are not developed enough to be competent for the mentioned purpose.