1.

Main greenhouse companies in Armenia

Healthy Plants1 was established in 2000, being the first company in Armenia to
supply high quality European carnation, rose, gerbera, alstroemeria, anthurium,
chrisantem, orchid seedlings, as well as fertilizers, drip irrigation system and other
hortus supplies to greenhouse owners.

In the same year Healthy Plants became the exclusive representative of famous
Schreurs Holland B.V. (gerbera and rose seedlings) and HilverdaKooij B.V.
(carnation, limonium, alstroemeria seedlings) companies in Armenia. In the next
two years Healthy Plants has already become the exclusive representative of
Deliflor Chrysanten B.V. (chrisantem seedlings), Hortus Supplies International
B.V. (fertilizers, drip irrigation systems) and Haifa Chemicals Ltd. (fertilizers) in
Armenia. Healthy Plants also represents Schreurs Holland B.V. exclusively in
Stavropol and Krasnodar regions of the Russian Federation.

Healthy Plants is the founder of development and cultivation of new flower

species. The company was the first to import gerbera, carnation, rose, and other
flower species and drip irrigation systems to Armenia. Moreover, during 12 years
of its operation, the company has provided free consulting services to hundreds of
farmers engaged in the greenhouse industry.

Each year Healthy Plants has participated in the largest international Hortifair
exhibition (Holland) to implement greenhouse and floriculture innovations in
Armenia. The company specialists have continuously visited their foreign partners
to participate in experience exchange and international seminars. Our slogan is
"We wish you perfect harvest".

Greenhouse association2 is also another greenhouse company in Armenia. It is

located in Yerevan Charenatsi Street.

2. Future trends3:

1
http://greenhouse.am/engl/healthy-plants.html
2
http://www.spyur.am/en/companies/greenhouse-association/81104
Armenian Harvest Promotion Center (AHPC) initiates a project of construction of
small greenhouses. The aim of project is to provide an opportunity for the
individual farmers and farms to build and exploit plastic greenhouses that provide
relatively high yields, have new technologies and energy efficient system.

In this process AHPC collaborate with French, Dutch, Jewish and other foreign
companies that produce greenhouses. The company has already received some
offers/proposals for construction of several types of greenhouses with 400 m2 and
more area. Depending on the type and dimensions of the greenhouse the price for
1m2 will be 12-30 euro.

Works are being done towards investment of drip irrigation system with accessible
terms, most effective heating or alternative heating systems in the greenhouses,
which will reduce the expenses for heating, irrigation and fertilizers. It will
increase the effectiveness and competitiveness of the greenhouses. The mentioned
systems can be also installed in the greenhouses that have been built earlier.

General Director of the company Aleksan Arakelyan mentioned that AHPC is

ready to assist both in insertion of heating and irrigation effective systems in
greenhouses that has been already built and in construction of new greenhouses.
The overall program plans for up to 500 ha of modern greenhouse construction.

3. Finances4:

Ameriabank said today (May 14) it has provided the bulk of funding for
establishing a 10.5 hectare greenhouse in the village of Goght in central Kotayk
province of Armenia.

"Greenhouses, a dynamically developing agricultural industry in Armenia are in

the focus of Ameriabank," the bank said in a new release, according to ARKA.

The construction of the greenhouses in Goght, initiated by Armenian Harvest LLC,

was launched in 2014. Earth work has been done on a total area of 30 hectares and
the next step is building a greenhouse on 10.5 hectares, the bank said.

3
http://www.greenhousecanada.com/energy-edge/efficiency/construction-of-small-efficient-greenhouses-in-
armenia
4
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/192122/
The greenhouse will grow melons, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers exporting the
entire output to Russia. The company will hire 300 people to work for the
greenhouse, according to the news release.

According to Ameriabank, agriculture has been the leading sector of the Armenian
economy since 2010.

In 2014 it accounted for about 20 percent of the overall GDP. In recent years
gardening, fish farming and, especially, greenhouses have been contributing
greatly to agricultural growth. Ameriabanks greenhouses lending portfolio stands
at $40 million now, the highest indicator in the banking system of Armenia.

Ameriabank is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and retail banking

services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions. It is the first investment
bank in Armenia, providing a wide range of innovative banking services since
2007.

The banks assets in the first quarter of 2015 declined by 3.5% year-on-year to
385.8 billion drams, liabilities fell by 4.3% to about 342 billion drams; its total
capital upped by 3.3% to 43.75 billion drams and credit investments slashed by
11.2% to about 266.7 billion drams. The bank also earned about 1.5 billion drams
in net profit, up 1.7% from the same time span of 2014.

Moreover5, According the officials, as of February of 2015, there are greenhouses

with a total of more than 763.6 hectare area operating in the republic, out of which
74.25 hectare have employed modern technology (RA Kotayk Marz 45.95 ha,
RA Armavir Marz 1.0 ha and RA Ararat Marz 30.3 ha).

There are 10-12 thousand employees working at the republics greenhouse farms,
the majority of whom are managers of small greenhouses and temporary workers.
In 2015, modern greenhouses with an area of about 51.0 ha will be built, out of
which 46.0 ha in Nor Geghi village of Kotayk Marz and 5.0 ha in Dzoraghbyur
village. Besides the 30-hectare greenhouses built in Shahumyan village of Ararat
Marz, Greenhouse LLC plans to enlarge the area with 40.0-50.0 hectare.

Greenhouses executives presented the companys expansion strategy, noting that

it involves building a 20-hectare greenhouse complex in 2015 (fully heated and
equipped with hydroponic technology) which is worth about 12 million USD. It

5
http://www.president.am/en/domestic-visits/item/2015/03/21/President-Serzh-Sargsyan-working-visit-to-
Ararat-domestic/
will be financed by the Italian SACE Fund (the State Agency for Foreign Trade
Insurance and Credit Services). The greenhouse parts will be supplied by Italian
Lucchini LLC. As a result, the number of permanent workers directly engaged in
the companys greenhouses is expected to be doubled, while the total production
capacity will exceed 15000 tons annually.

4. Problems6:

Greenhouses in Armenia are closing as the prices for natural gas have increased.
Poghos Gevorgyan, the chairman of the Association of greenhouses of Armenia,
made this statement at a press conference today.

According to him, the area of greenhouses in Armenia has increased from 40 ha to

140 ha since 2003. However, greenhouses are closing gradually due to high prices
for natural gas, in particular. "Planting seeds in greenhouses decreased by 12
hectares last year. Already this autumn we will know exactly how many
greenhouses will be closed", said Mr. Gevorgyan. Speaking about the concept of
the government on the development of greenhouses in Armenia, he noted that the
government refuses to support farmers as all proposals and requests of the
Association of greenhouses of Armenia have not been taken into account or have
been declined. For instance, the proposals to defer payments for natural gas until
spring and to revise fixed tariffs have not been supported.

"The government, for its part, recommends farmers to use new technologies to
increase crop yields and reduce heating costs. But for the introduction of these new
technologies we have to pay 32% tax. We offered to exempt us from this tax, but
we were also denied", said Poghos Gevorgyan.

At the moment, mainly vegetables and flowers are grown in greenhouses in

Armenia. Floral greenhouses satisfy the Armenian market demand. Thus the
import of flowers is negligible. As for vegetables, local vegetable greenhouses
satisfy about 45% of the demand of the domestic market of Armenia while the rest
55% of vegetables are imported.

6
http://www.hortidaily.com/article/6163/Armenia-greenhouses-out-of-business-due-to-high-priced-natural-gas