Industry of Armenia: main directions

The Armenian Republic is one of the poorest in the post-Soviet space. At the same time, even in this country there is a definite economic potential, which has not yet been fully disclosed. Today we will consider in detail the industry of Armenia.

Historical reference

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Armenian economy proved to be practically unviable, and therefore the situation is the most complicated in this country, if we compare all the states of Transcaucasia. From a powerful agrarian-industrial power Armenia was transformed into a small country that could not boast of natural resources, good geographical location or fertile earth layer.

Having no gas, no oil, no access to the sea, the Armenians still fell into the economic blockade. And all this is because the enterprises of Armenia because of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed confrontation were literally cut off from Turkey and Azerbaijan, and because of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict - from the Russian Federation, because initially all cargo transportation was previously performed through the Abkhazian railway .

The way out of the crisis

In 1991, privatization started. First of all, agricultural lands went into private hands, then small and medium-sized industrial enterprises, and in 1995, large industrial facilities went on sale.

Even more, the industry of Armenia began to gain momentum after a ceasefire with Azerbaijan in 1994, thanks to which funds were received from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This allowed to lower the rate of inflation and increase the growth of the domestic gross product.

Vectors of economic development

Today Armenia is an industrial and agrarian state. The management of the mill devotes the most attention to agricultural small-scale products. The GDP structure of the country is briefly as follows:

• Agriculture - 31,1%.
• Industry - 21.8%.
• Trade - 8.7%.
• Construction - 8,5%.
• Transport - 5,1%.
• The rest - 24.9%.

Leading industries are: chemical and oil, non-ferrous metallurgy, metalworking, engineering, production of building materials.

Village and people

The agriculture of Armenia has been developing for millennia. In general, this state was one of the first on the planet where the cultivation of the land was started by people. If desired, you can meet 22 species and 218 subspecies of cereals.

Agriculture of Armenia in the 21st century is developing rapidly. So, for example, in 2010, 62% of lands adapted for lands were cultivated in the country, and in 2014 this indicator already amounted to 74%. In general, 46.8% of the entire country is suitable for use in agricultural needs.

The center of plant growing of the state is the Ararat valley. This is because there is a plain here, well warmed by the sun. Forage for cattle is grown about 2000 plant species, but the main crops are clover, alfalfa, sainfoin.

Well developed in Armenia and cattle breeding. In the country you can meet rare animals that were domesticated many years ago. At the same time grazing of small cattle is over-normative, because of what the area of natural forage lands has significantly decreased. And if in 1940 there were 14 million hectares, today it is only 805 thousand hectares.

Fishing deserves special attention. Armenia is rich in carp, white carp, amour. For sale, rainbow and lake trout, Siberian sturgeon are bred. Amateur fishing is allowed on almost all available reservoirs. The only exception is those sources of water that are protected by the state.

Atomic giant

The Armenian nuclear power plant is located not far from the city of Metsamor. It has two power units. The first of them began its work in 1976, and the second - in 1980. In the plans of the leadership was the creation of the third and fourth blocks, but the Chernobyl tragedy led to the curtailment of this idea.

October 15, 1982 at the Armenian nuclear power plant there was a fierce fire at the first power unit, which was extinguished for seven hours. In the process of extinguishment, 110 people were involved. And in December 1988 after the earthquake in the city of Spitak it was decided to completely stop the station. This allowed two holes to be cut out in the walls of the first block and to carry out special investigations, the results of which showed that the operation of the unit is not possible in the future.

However, considering the economic and political situation in the country, the Armenian leadership decided to restart the nuclear power plant on November 5, 1995. As a result, the second power unit was put into operation, which stood for nearly seven years. It should be noted that after the restart of the station, harmful emissions into the surrounding atmosphere decreased by 2.5 times compared to the period before 1989. Initially, it was planned that the station will work until 2016, but in December 2014, the Minister of Energy of the Armenian state Zakharyan and the head of Rosatom Kirienko signed their contracts, which confirmed that the operation of the second power unit will be extended for another ten years, that is Until the year 2026. Thus, Armenia's energy industry depends very heavily on the normal operation of the station, which plays a key role in shaping the republic's energy independence.

Interesting moments in the work of nuclear power plants

The Armenian nuclear power plant was the first on the planet to use hydraulic shock absorbers produced by a Japanese company. In addition, experts of the station modeled the situation, which was the cause of the accident at the Fukushima-1. The results of the audit showed that such risks of the Armenian station are not threatened.

In the summer of 2009, the world's largest AN-225 transport aircraft carried the largest cargo in the history of aviation - a 147 ton generator for nuclear power plants. The route was laid from Frankfurt to Yerevan.

Alcohol production

Proshyan Cognac Factory is the main producer of Armenian alcoholic beverages. It was founded 130 years ago by the heir of the princely family, Abgar Proshyan. This man was brilliantly educated, studied in Germany, and after returning home he began to build a distillery on the territory of the Armenian Valley, as it is there that a unique grape variety grows, on the basis of which a cognac spirit is made that glorified the Armenian cognac to the whole world.
During the period of the USSR, the enterprise became hostage to the political situation, when all the spirits produced by this plant were forcibly transported to Yerevan due to centralized state planning. However, at the end of the 1980s, the Proshyan Brandy Factory was headed by a new head, and the enterprise regained its former glory and power.

Nowadays the plant produces not only vodka and cognac, but also original fruit wines made from quince, blackberry, cherry. At the same time, the enterprise is the absolute leader of Armenia in the production of cognac in the country and closely cooperates with foreign partners. Due to this, the volume of exports to the USA, Greece, Korea, Israel increased significantly. And in March 2008 the Moscow branch of the plant was opened.

Gas industry

The closed joint-stock company Gazprom Armenia is wholly owned by the Russian PJSC Gazprom. The Armenian daughter of the Russian company is an absolute monopolist in the gas market of Armenia. In general, the gas distribution system of the republic includes about 14,902 kilometers of gas pipelines. By the way, the gasification index of the country is 95%. At the same time, almost 80% of Armenian automotive equipment operates exclusively on natural gas.

Metallurgical industry

The industry of Armenia has non-ferrous metallurgy as one of its main vectors. According to experts, the country has about 9% of the world's reserves of molybdenum. To enrich the copper-molybdenum ore, such giants as Zangezur and Agarak Mining and Processing Combines, Kapan Mining and Processing Plant are used.

Also, the country has Zod and Meghradzor gold deposits, which are developed jointly with Canadian companies. Gold ore is enriched at the Ararat gold processing plant.

As for the iron and steel industry, the industry of Armenia does not depend too much on it, since this sphere is auxiliary for the country. In the state there are only two enterprises of this direction - the Yerevan Experimental-Industrial Plant, specializing in the production of magnetic iron for instrumentation, and the Tumanyan Refractory Plant.