This year owners (Mika Ltd) is starting the reconstruction of the Hrazdan Cement Plant in Armenia, reports the company’s president Mikhail Bagdassarov. The company will purchase additional equipment for the plant to achieve substantial results and to promote the development of the whole Armenian economy. Bagdassarov notes that the plant’s cement is the best in the region. In 2003 the plant produced cement worth 2.2 bn AMD, (US$4.0m) which is 28 per cent less than in 2002. The sales totalled 2.4 bn AMD, 13.4 per cent less than a year before. The experts was 219 mln AMD, 2.5 times as much as in the previous year. The plant employs 677 people paying them an average of 30,000 AMD. Mika Limited bought the plant for just US$740,000.
Meanwhile neighbours Ararat Cement produced cement worth 4.2 bln AMD - 53.7 per cent more than in 2002. Sales grew 28 per cent to 3.1 bln AMD, exports 7.9 times to 719m AMD. The plant employs 1,424 people paying them an average of 50,000 AMD a year (approx US$100).
