Due to the global financial crisis, the Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) has reduced brandy production by 36%.

“Nevertheless, we are hopeful that we will be able to regain the 2007 index by 2012,” YBC Executive Director Ara Grigoryan said at a news conference in Berd, a town in Tavush region of Armenia.

He also said the company did not succeed in diversification or in search of new markets in 2009 but it will work to reduce dependence on Russia’s market in the future.

YBC Production Director Philippe Thibaud said for his part that Armenian brandy is competitive at the international market. “The peculiarities of Armenian brandy are the sorts of grapes, soil and climate,” he said.