Araratcement Suggests Armenian Government Triples Tariff on Iranian Clinker

The executives of Araratcement are going to present their veision of what a tariff on Iranian clinker should be. The plant suffered from cheap Iranian products, and now proposes to establish a customs duty at a mark of 30,000 drams (62 US dollars) per ton. It is three times higher than what the government originally proposed. As of today, there’s no tariff on imported clinker.

The Armenian parliament is going to consider a bill submitted by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic on increasing a tariff on imported cement and setting a tariff on clinker. It is planned to charge 18,000 ($37) drams per ton of imported cement instead of the current 14,000($29), and 10,000 ($20) drams per ton of clinker. However, local cement producers believe this is not high enough.

Araratcement insists the state should apply a tariff of 30,000 drams per ton to ensure equal competitive conditions in the Armenian market for both — importers and producers of cement.

“We will present our calculations to the Ministry of Economy and discuss them,” says Commercial Director of Araratcement Arman Barseghyan.

According to officials, imports of cement and clinker from Iran increased by 300% in January-March this year. This led to the losses and temporary suspension of production on Araratcement and Hrazdan-cement.

Gas is much cheaper in Iran and Iran subsidizes the transportation costs of its exporters. According to the Ministry of Economy, the price of cement produced at Araratcement is now 36,200 drams ($75), and 39,500 drams ($82) at Hrazdan-cement. The price of cement produced using Iranian clinker is 26,000 drams ($54).