The Armenian government has banned imports from third countries for a period of six months. The step was taken to create favourable conditions for local cement producers.

“The adoption of the decision is due to the need to regulate the importation of cement from third countries and to create equal conditions for cement produced and imported in the local cement market” indicates government text.

In the January-October 2023 period, 0.965Mt of cement were produced in Armenia, up 20.1 per cent YoY. In addition, 173,000t of cement was imported in the January-September 2023 period, up 5.7 times when compared with the previous year. State import duties were reduced from AMD14,000 (US$34.74) to ARD2000. Georgia and the Russian Federation were key importers.

The import ban comes into force on 18 January and will remain valid until 18 July 2024.