JUNE 5, NOYAN TAPAN. Some Armenian products can be quite competitive
on the Turkish market, and some of them even exceed the Turkish products from
point of view of their quality and price. Gagik Makarian, the Executive Director
of the "ArmConsult" business-consulting center, told NT's correspondent
that this conviction was formed independently of studies of the Turkish market
conducted by experts recently.
According to comparison of prices for the same types of products on the Armenian
and Turkish markets, it turned out that, for example, 1 kilogram of poultry
of local production is sold in Turkey and Armenia at $3.28 and $2.34, respectively.
Beef filet is sold at $6.62 and $2.88, eggs (30 pieces) - at $0.34 and $0.18,
3 kilograms of granulated sugar - at $4.62 and $1.30, 1 ton of apples - at $166
and $70. The prices for many types of products are almost similar.
According to G. Makarian, the cheapness of Armenian types of products is conditioned
by a number of circumstances: fuel, electricity and skilled labor force are
twice as expensive in Turkey. But prices for many Armenian products (for example,
canned products) are comparatively higher than Turkish analogues. G. Makarian
ascribed this to the seasonal work of Armenian enterprises, outdated techniques
and other circumstances.
According to G. Makarian, if the borders are opened Armenian entrepreneurs will
have an opportunity to sell their competitive products on the Turkish market
and to unfold economically advantageous activities there. He also mentioned
that it is impossible to exactly decide the real volumes of Armenia's commodity
turnover with Turkey, because trade between the two countries is carried out
through broker companies of transit countries. According to G. Makarian, the
Turkish side is especially interested in the development of its territories
bordering on Armenia, because they are far from the country's transportation
routes.