Will Local Products Have a Good Place in Supermarkets? The Issue Will Be Discussed in the Ministry

The issue of allocating space for domestic products in Armenian supermarket shelves will be discussed once again in the Ministry of Economy. This information was shared with Sputnik Armenia by local food producers.

Vahe Ghazaryan, the CEO of the 'Eurotherm' company (a major fruit juice producer), recalled that interested businesses had previously discussed the possibility of adopting legislation with the Ministry of Economy that would guarantee a space for local products in supermarkets. These spaces would be reserved for local companies as a whole, allowing them to compete against each other, but not against large foreign brands (against which competition is clearly uneven).

“The marketing budgets of large foreign corporations, including for favorable product placement in supermarkets, are incomparable to ours. This issue is relevant worldwide for juices and soft drinks. I don’t know how much our government can protect us; that question is directed towards them,” noted Ghazaryan.

The president of the Armenian Dairy Producers Union, Khachatour Poghosyan, mentioned in a conversation with the media that the issue was recently discussed again in the ongoing committee on economic issues at the National Assembly. He indicated that foreign companies also provide significant bonuses to Armenian supermarkets for promoting their products in the case of dairy products, but this sector has its unique problems.

“Our trade networks are purchasing discounted products from Russia and Belarus, which are close to expiration. They will never buy fresh products at such prices, and they are getting the discount for that. It turns out that there is not so much fair competition with local factories,” emphasized Poghosyan.

A local producer is faced with the fact; the economist on the import of Turkish products to Armenia.

According to him, as a result of the discussions in the National Assembly committee, it was decided to pass the support for the competition between local products and imported products in trade networks to the Ministry of Economy for further discussion.