With the assistance of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the city of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), a batch of dried fruits and nuts (almonds, walnuts, raisins and apricot kernels), fig jam and honey was delivered from Uzbekistan to Malaysia, Dunyo news agency reported.

The exporter of the goods is the Uzbek Golden Prime Food LLC, and the importer is the Malaysian trading company Deli Fruits Trading.

Due to the lack of direct flights between Uzbekistan and Malaysia because of the coronavirus pandemic, the cargo was delivered to Kuala Lumpur via a new transport corridor – through Turkey.

According to Nazatul Shima, the manager of Deli Fruits Trading, the received batch of Uzbek products will be sold in the retail chains of Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian state of Johor. The shipment of the next batch of Uzbek fruits and vegetables is scheduled in May. She also noted that the quality of products imported from Uzbekistan satisfies the growing interest of buyers in Malaysia.

The Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan continues active work to promote the products of Uzbek enterprises in the Malaysian market.

Сообщение Uzbek dried fruits and nuts delivered to Malaysia появились сначала на EastFruit.

Marneuli Almond will establish a 125-hectare of almons orchard in Marneuli. The project is being implemented through private investment. As the representative of the company Levan Diasamidze said, the payback period of the investment is around 6-7 years. Almonds grown here will be fully exported. Business Georgia wrote.

“100% of the almonds will be exported to Europe. Unfortunately, their consumption in Georgia is very low, so we focus on export. The project is being implemented by the company Marneuli Almond. We will plant 125 hectares of almonds and we have already purchased 60,000 saplings from the Spanish company Vivero Veroni. We also agreed to have consultancy with them,” Levan Diasamidze explained.

Almonds are one of the most popular nut crops, the demand is growing year by year. The first harvest of almonds was obtained in commercial orchards in Georgia last year.

Сообщение Intensive 125 hectares almond orchard is being established in Georgia появились сначала на EastFruit.

14 Georgian companies took part in GulFood 2021, the international exhibition of food, beverage, and industry HoReCa, which was held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on February 21-25, 2021. The participation of Georgian companies at the exhibition was co-financed by the Produce in Georgia Agency and the USAID Agricultural Program in Georgia. The exhibition presented Georgian nuts, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, natural juices, dried fruits, honey, bay leaves and tea.

Roman Kezharashvili, the export manager of the Produce in Georgia Agency, noted on the air of the Business-Partner program that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a difficult year in terms of exhibitions in the food and beverage industry. Nearly all exhibitions were postponed or cancelled and the online space for such a sector was much less efficient. Thus, the GulFood 2021 exhibition was practically the first event to be held in person after a long hiatus.

Mr Kezharashvili stressed that GulFood 2021 is one of the most authoritative and demanded international exhibitions in the food sector, which before the start of the pandemic received about 100,000 visitors annually. “Although the total number of visitors was 20-30% less this year according to our observations, almost all of them were potential buyers and there were practically no tourists.”

“It is too early to talk about concrete results (volumes, etc.) for Georgian producers. Yet, our companies were actively negotiating and I am sure they have new opportunities,” he said.

Read also: Blueberry imports to Russia continue to grow at record rates

This is not the first time that the Georgian company Agritouch has become one of the participants at GulFood. The founder of the company, Ekaterina Vepkhvadze, told EastFruit that she was satisfied with the outcome noting that the exhibition provided a good opportunity to get acquainted with sector participants from various countries, establish contacts, and conclude preliminary agreements.

“Our company presented several types of products at the exhibition and the main one was blueberries. The popularity of this berry all over the world is very high, but Georgia as a producer is still little known so we tried to give the maximum amount of information,” she said.

Ekaterina Vepkhvadze noted that the interest in agricultural products at the exhibition was quite high. She thanked the Produce in Georgia Agency and the USAID Agricultural Program for financial support for the participation of Georgian companies in the exhibition.

Mamuka Beriashvili, a representative from the company NutsGe which produces natural and processed hazelnuts, told EastFruit that at GulFood, despite the relatively limited number of countries represented at the exhibition this year the event was very significant. The main participants were countries from the Middle East, South America, and the post-Soviet space. There were practically no participants from EU countries, the United States, and China.

“It was definitely worth going to this exhibition since we gathered a lot of contacts. The visitors were mostly professionals who knew what they wanted,” said Mamuka Beriashvili.

Сообщение Georgian producers strengthen their presence in the Gulf market появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, there was a sharp increase in fruit and vegetable imports from Georgia to Russia in 2020. During the year, Georgia managed to earn a record $81 million from the exports of fresh vegetables, fruits, berries, and nuts to Russia, which was 62% more than in 2019.

The following graph shows the rise and fall of Georgian exports to Russia in US dollars and percentages.

As we can see from the graph, the largest increase in revenue was due to the supply of mandarins, which is Georgia’s primary export to Russia. Their exports grew by 57% or nearly $10 million in a year and reached $27 million.

Read also: Horticulture of Georgia 2020: surging exports of nuts, apples, blueberries, peaches, and mandarins

Also, Georgian exports of peaches and nectarines to Russia increased very sharply by 49%. However, for rating percentages, the absolute leader in the increase in exports was for plums: its exports grew 14 times over a year! Also, there was an almost sevenfold increase in the exports of persimmons, fourfold of blueberries, threefold of sweet cherries, and more than a twofold increase in the exports of hazelnuts.

The exports of exotic fruits and vegetables such as feijoa, pomegranate, etc., also increased by an impressive 85%. This means that Georgian entrepreneurs continue to search and successfully find various niches in the fresh produce business.

Exports of vegetables and greenhouse products from Georgia to Russia continued to stagnate. According to EastFruit‘s estimates, the cost of energy for producing greenhouse products was the highest in Georgia and Ukraine for the region, making it less competitive than for the suppliers of these vegetables from Central Asian countries. In particular, herbs can be grown in the open field even in winter in Uzbekistan and Iran. Also, less energy is needed to heat greenhouses in these countries since the average temperatures are higher and energy prices are much lower.

Accordingly, in 2020, the exports of cucumbers and tomatoes from Georgia to Russia fell by about a third, and herbs by a quarter. FAO and EBRD experts drew attention to issues growing and exporting herbs from Georgia back in 2018 highlighting that Georgia needed to look for alternatives to the Russian herbs market and to expand the product range.

Сообщение Russian imports surge for plums, cherries, persimmons, and hazelnuts from Georgia появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, in 2020 the volume of exports of fruits and nuts, or group 8 according to NTN VED, equalled $171.76 million.

The share of fruits and nuts in Georgia’s total exports worth $3342.14 million was 5.1%. The top exported goods in the group were hazelnuts ($91.09 million), mandarins ($21.74 million), peaches, including nectarines ($21.45 million), persimmons ($5.68 million), apples ($5.10 million), blueberries, and other Vaccinium berries ($3.82 million), oranges ($2.62 million), bananas ($2.54 million), lemons ($1.96 million), plums ($1.80 million), figs ($1.29 million), and walnuts ($1.13 million). The top exported product among dried fruits was dried apples ($0.61 million).

Compared to the previous year, fruit exports increased by 41.0%.

In 2019, the value of exported fruits and nuts was $121.83 million. Their share in Georgian exports’ total volume for the same period ($3798.45 million) was 3.2%. The main exported goods were hazelnuts ($63.34 million), mandarines ($18.42 million), peaches, including nectarines ($12.48 million), bananas ($5.36 million), apples ($4.59 million), persimmons ($4.20 million), oranges ($1.51 million), pistachios ($1.45 million), and walnuts ($1.36 million).

The export value of dried apples was $0.46 million.

The export of vegetables (group 7 according to NTN VED) in 2020 amounted to $10.32 million. The share of vegetables in the total exports of Georgia for the same period was 0.3%. The most exported goods in the group were tomatoes ($2.13 million), potatoes ($1.07 million), eggplants ($0.90 million), mushrooms of the Agaricus family ($0.82 million), and cucumbers ($0.79 million).

The exports of vegetables in comparison with the previous year decreased by 10.6%.

In 2019, Georgia exported vegetables worth $11.54 million. The share of vegetables in the total exports’ volume was 0.30%. The top exports crops were tomatoes ($2.29 million), mushrooms of the Agaricus family ($1.12 million), cucumbers ($1.11 million), potatoes ($0.98 million), eggplants ($0.73 million), and garlic ($0.60 million).

Сообщение Georgian exports of fruits up 41%, vegetables down 11% in 2020 появились сначала на EastFruit.

Representatives from the Union of Nut Growers Associations in Moldova assert that since mid-January, the wholesale prices for the purchase and sale of walnut kernels have decreased by about 1-2 lei/kg ($0.06-0.12/kg). This sluggish process has had the greatest impact on the price of the lowest quality products of dark quarters and nut crumbs whereas the wholesale price for high-quality products – light halves of kernels – has not changed. At the beginning of this week, wholesale prices for walnut kernels have kept in the range of 90-100 lei/kg ($5.20-5.78/kg) for more than a month.

Read also: Moldovan specialist: In-shell nut prices highly dependent on product quality 

Nevertheless, the union specialists believe that in the last month of winter there is very little chance that prices for walnut kernels in Moldova will remain at the current level or increase. Tempting offers from European trading enterprises are circulating on the Moldovan market for the purchase of large lots (tens of tons) of light kernels of the Chandler variety at a price higher than the current one. Unfortunately, there are no available consignments of American and French walnut varieties of this size in the country. As a result, overseas buyers are gradually shifting their attention to adjacent markets.

In fact, the gradual decline in prices for low-quality nuts (dark kernels) indicates that walnut farmers have lost faith in the prospect of selling their products. They have begun to accept discounts from reliable buyers who are ready to pay immediately at the time of shipment.

Сообщение Prices dropping for low-quality walnut kernels in Moldova появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, Ukraine sharply reduced the export of fruits and vegetables to Singapore in 2020. In particular, apple exports decreased by two and a half times in value terms, blueberry exports fell by almost four times, and walnut exports practically stopped.

If we talk about supply volumes in total from Ukraine to Singapore, then 41 tons of fresh apples were shipped versus 108 tons a year earlier and about 1 ton of fresh blueberries exported versus 6 tons a year earlier. Of note is that Serbia delivered to Singapore in 2020 practically the same volume of apples as Ukraine, however it had not supplied fresh apples to this country previously.

Read also: Horticulture of Ukraine 2020: fruit and vegetable degradation or temporary difficulties?

The main supplier of apples to the Singapore market remains China, which in the 2020 calendar year increased its supply volumes to 46,200 tons. The second place was taken by New Zealand with 8,900 tons, surpassing South Africa, which supplied 7,500 tons of apples to Singapore. The United States came in fourth place having exported 3,900 tons, while France dropped to fifth having reduced apple exports by more than a third to 3,200 tons. Turkey, Malaysia, Italy, Japan, and South Korea are also among the ten largest suppliers of apples to Singapore. Ukraine was only in 16th place among the ranking.

The main suppliers of fresh blueberries to Singapore were the United States with a supply volume of 668,000 tons – an increase of 24% per year. In second place was Chile, which also increased supplies by 27%. The largest increase in supplies was from Peru at nearly three times to 412 tons. In general, blueberry imports to Singapore grew by 20% in 2020. Among the unexpected suppliers of blueberries to this country, we note China with 42 tons, Zimbabwe with 27 tons, and Zambia with 24 tons.

Сообщение Ukraine reduced apple, blueberry, and walnut exports to Singapore in 2020 появились сначала на EastFruit.

In December 2020, abnormally warm weather settled in Moldova mainly up to +10 and +11 degrees Celsius in the day time. At night in most of the region, the temperature was also above zero. According to the meteorological forecast, relatively warm weather will remain until the end of the first ten days of January.  For fruit crops, this sharp warming is not accompanied by an increase in agro-technological risks, even if the warm period lasts for a long time and then frosts come suddenly according to the experts from agricultural producer organizations.

Experts note that the fall of foliage on perennial plantations in the country began quite late and ended only at the end of November. In December, the plants entered the dormant phase, which on average lasts about 90 days for fruit crops. The only exception is almonds, which can come out of dormancy and start growing after two weeks in favourable weather conditions. From this point of view, December’s thaw was an adverse scenario for walnut growers.

At the same time, the agrarians are not able to level December warming. Previously, they used snow retention technologies for this purpose, but there has not been any significant and stable snow cover in Moldova for several years.

However, there are certainly positive aspects of this. Warm, snowless weather is a good condition for pruning on perennial plantations, and some farmers make use of this opportunity.

Сообщение Opinion: Orchards in Moldova survived December’s thaw without damage появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to Andrii Yarmak, an economist at the Investment Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), berries and nuts are the two fastest-growing horticultural markets in the world.

“Every year, the world trade in nuts is increasing by an average of 7.8%, which is comparable to the growth rate of the berry market. At the same time, the export of nuts annually grows by $2 billion a year and already reached about $34 billion,” says Andrii Yarmak. “The best-selling nut in the world is cashew, its sales are growing at a tremendous pace, namely by 17.2% or $760 million per year,” the expert says.

The trends for vegan food, paleo diets, and other healthy eating habits are important factors that affect such rapid growth in the global nut market. In these diets, nuts often play a crucial role as they contain lots of protein in combination with healthy fats and carbohydrates. Today’s rapid pace of life means people have less time to cook and prefer healthy snacks instead, which also results in increased nuts consumption. Nuts are filling type of food, and they are considered a healthy snack.

Their more active processing also plays an essential role in the growth of demand for nuts. In particular, the increased use of so-called nut flour also boosted global nuts consumption. The confectionery and snack industries also play a significant role, where the demand for healthier products containing nuts is growing.

The growing number of people going in for in sports contributes to growth in nuts consumption because they are recommended as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. It is also essential that large international corporations are investing heavily in promoting healthy snacks, and that is a locomotive for the demand for nuts.

At the same time, Andrii Yarmak noted that walnuts, traditional for Moldova, are significantly inferior in growth rates to cashews and almonds, as they are less versatile in consumption and processing. Thus, the share of walnuts in the world nut market is gradually decreasing. The expert also clarified that little-known niche nuts such as cola, betel nut, and macadamia have the highest sales growth rates. Their global exports are growing by 25-40% annually.

Read also: Macadamia is the fastest growing nut crop in the world

Сообщение The global nut market is growing as fast as the berry market появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to analysts of the EastFruit project, the new season of walnut crops in the monitoring region begins unevenly. Since it has entered an active phase in all eastern countries of the monitoring region, we resume monthly reviews of the markets for walnut and almond kernels and shelled hazelnuts.

Over September 2020, project analysts did not record a stable situation in any of the analyzed countries on the walnut kernel market. Moreover, despite the fact that the walnut season was already quite active in the eastern part of the monitoring region, walnuts prices in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were gradually increasing. Local market operators explained that demand for walnuts remained at a high level, primarily due to importers’ activity.

Prices for this type of nuts during the first month of autumn 2020 increased in Russia and Belarus. In Belarus, having reached the level of $ 7.30 / kg, they became the highest in the region.

According to the reporting month results, the exception in this market segment was Ukraine, where a walnut’s kernel fell even slightly by $ 0.13 / kg over the last 30 days.

According to the project analysts, by the end of this month, the walnut kernel market’s situation may change dramatically, since the new walnut season will be active in all countries of the monitoring region without exception.

EastFruit analysts reported no changes in the price situation in the hazelnut in-shell segment in Georgia and Belarus over the past month. This type of nuts fell in price only on the Russian Federation market, where average prices for hazelnuts fell to $ 4.04 / kg.

Upward trends dominated the market for in-shell hazelnuts throughout the past period, and this type of nuts has significantly increased in price in Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Having reached a record level in the monitoring region of $ 7.76 / kg, in-shell hazelnuts went on sale in bulk in Ukraine by the end of the reporting period.

The most affordable in-shell hazelnuts, on average, at $ 2.03 / kg, went on sale in bulk in the Georgian market. Even with stable demand, sellers only slightly increased the previously established prices for this type of nuts, which allowed them to maintain the same trading rates.

As in the previous season, of all the analyzed nut crops, the almond kernel was offered on the monitoring region’s market at the highest wholesale prices, from $ 6.78 / kg in Uzbekistan to $ 13.53 / kg in Ukraine.

Prices for one of the most expensive types of nuts rose only in Belarus over the past month, while almond kernels fell in price in the Russian Federation and Poland.

In the rest of the monitoring region countries, the EastFruit project specialists did not record a significant change in the market situation in this segment of walnut crops throughout the reporting period.

Сообщение Walnuts and hazelnuts have risen in price over the past month, while almonds have fallen in price more often – market overview for September 2020 появились сначала на EastFruit.