Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and other members of the government took part in the opening ceremony for the Arm-glass bottle plant in the town of Abovyan. The plant, which has equipment from Cze…
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and other members of the government took part in the opening ceremony for the Arm-glass bottle plant in the town of Abovyan. The plant, which has equipment from Czech company “Skolostroj Turnov”, has a designed capacity of 500 million items per annum and will be the first producer of clear glass in Armenia. As output is higher than the needs of the internal market, the company is aiming at export sales. Melik Manukyan, one of the plant“s owners told reporters that there are already orders from Georgia, although he declined to give figures. However, according to a source, the client is Moscow Liquor and Vodka Factory “Topaz”, which has concluded a contract with Arm-glass for 1.8 million vodka bottles a month at a price of USD 0.10 per bottle. Agricultural Minister David Lokyan said at the ceremony that due to the lack of clear glass container production in Armenia, the country has had to import 65 million items per annum at a cost of USD 18.2 million. The new clear glass capability will enable domestic agricultural processing firms to reduce the cost of finished products and to increase their competitiveness in world markets. Arm-glass was founded in 1993 by Melik Manukyan and Ashot Arsenyan. The Manukyan family also owns a second container plant. It was founded in 1990 and its designed capacity is 3 million containers per month.