Over the past five years, the exports of dried fruits from Georgia reached their pinnacle in 2020. More than 600 tons of dried fruits were exported last year, which earned the country up to $2 million. When comparing the data from 2020 to 2019, exports increased by 46% in quantity and 58% in value.

Source: geostat.ge

In 2020, 48% of Georgia’s dried fruit exports went to Germany followed by Russia (20%) and China (13%). Germany has been the largest market for dried fruits from Georgia over the past five years. In 2016-2020, supplies to the Russian market were also stable. Last year, China took third place in dried fruit exports from Georgia for the first time where up to 82 tons of dried fruits were exported. In previous years, China’s share of dried fruit exports was insignificant.

The number of trading partners has increased significantly over the past five years as well. Georgian dried fruits were exported only to 11 countries in 2016, but by 2020, the number of countries increased to 24. Last year, Japan was added to the number of new markets, but Germany and Russia remain the main markets.

Source: geostat.ge

Up until 2020, dried apples were exported from Georgia in the largest quantities, but last year dried fruits under the commodity code “other dried fruits” (not including prunes, apples, and apricots), bypassed apples. Out of 609 tons of dried fruits, 313 tons belonged to this commodity group and only 287 tons belonged to dried apples. Besides traditional dried apples and prunes, Georgia produces dried persimmons, which are important for exports. Georgian companies have also started to produce dried watermelons, melons, kiwis, and berries, which are interesting for export markets and less targeted by local consumers.

What was the reason for the increase in dried fruit exports from Georgia in 2020?

Georgian farmers had a good harvest of apples, plums, and persimmons last year. This is reflected in the export figures as well. Exports of fruits such as apples and persimmons have increased – persimmon exports increased by 38% and Georgia also exported a record number of apples. A place with a good harvest means the processing of fruits, including in the form of dried fruits, and their exports naturally increased.

In addition to a good harvest in 2020, dried fruit companies have reached specific agreements with exporters and entered new markets. The reason for this development was the introduction of new food safety standards in enterprises, which is often a prerequisite for exports. Gemuani, which is located in western Georgia, produces up to 30 different freeze-dried dried fruits and received an International Food Standard (IFS) certificate in 2019, after which interest in their products increased in export markets.

Read also: Gemuani: New packaging and export growth for its freeze-dried products from Georgia

In 2020, the company acquired an important trading partner like Nestle. Gemuani has become a supplier of raw materials for the Russian branch of Nestle since last year. The company did not disclose the details of the agreement, but, in 2020, 120 tons of dried fruits were exported from Georgia to Russia, which is 33% more than in previous years.

Another company that acquired new trading partners in 2020 and increased exports is Kareli Fruits, which is located in Shida Kartli. In addition to the traditional dried apples and plums, the company also produces dried watermelons and melons. Since 2020, Kareli Fruit has introduced a new food safety standard and has migrated from ISO 22000 to a new version of FSSC 22000 standard, which provides for stricter food safety measures. According to the director of Kareli Fruits Anano Bezhanishvili, the introduction of the new standard was necessary in order for their products to become more in demand in export markets. As a result, Japan became interested in their dried fruits from watermelon and melon, which are less popular in the local market. In total, the company exported about 30% of total production in 2020, while in 2019 the share of exports was about 5% of production.

Сообщение Dried fruits from Georgia entered new markets in 2020 появились сначала на EastFruit.

The EastFruit team, from the very moment the project was launched, has been publishing interesting materials both on weekends and on holidays. However, we understand that many might not have read them during their holidays so we will share links to the most interesting and profound studies, news, and blogs that were posted during the holiday period.

We advise you to save this material in order to gradually familiarize yourself with all the links since all of them, without exception, will be of interest to most participants in the fruit and vegetable market.

Despite the holidays, several tens of thousands of people read two review analytical materials with the results of the difficult 2020 year. Here they are:

• Berry business of 2020: summary and forecasts for 2021.  The world market, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
• Nut business of 2020: summary and prospects for segments: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, and other nuts. Analysis of the world market and countries in the region.

We also made a rating of the most read materials in 2020, which will help to remember the main events of the market for vegetables, fruits, berries, and nuts.

For each of the EastFruit countries, we have prepared an analysis of market events. Here are the links to them: Uzbekistan 2020 had the worst season in several years, Georgia 2020 was the opposite with everything very positive and many new export records, Tajikistan 2020 did not have the best year but high hopes for its future and Moldova 2020 really had no luck in the coronavirus year!

But what about Ukraine? Given the scale of the country and the many events, we have not yet had time to publish the results of Ukraine, but in the coming days, we will definitely post it on EastFruit!

By the way, many articles on our portal are now available in English. Therefore, they are easier to share with friends in other countries. Including the final summaries by country. Plus, we’re getting more cited now!

Also during the holidays, a very high level of interest was caused by publications about potatoes and the situation with the potato market in Ukraine. As you know, Ukraine imported almost half a million tons of potatoes last season, mainly from Russia, which was a real shock for both market participants and the population. Therefore, the blog by Andriy Yarmak, an economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), caused a huge stir regarding the root causes of the difficult situation in the potato and traditional vegetables market. He clearly explained why potato imports will continue in the new season and in the long term, noting that dirty potatoes on the shelves of supermarkets in Ukraine are an indicator of the industry’s problems. These conclusions were later confirmed by the industry association, which stated that Ukraine would not be able to do without importing potatoes. A new wave of discussion was caused by the frank blog of a foreign citizen living in Ukraine, who was perplexed by the dirty potatoes and vegetables on the shelves. After all, dirty potatoes from European countries can be found even in Ukraine.

The argument that dirty potatoes are cheaper and that Ukrainians, they say, are not rich, was broken by detailed calculations proving the opposite that dirty potatoes actually cost the consumer twice as much as washed! Moreover, producers and especially supermarkets lose on dirty potatoes! How much money does someone lose on dirty potatoes? You can read about it here.

The topic of high rates of supermarketing in Uzbekistan has been on the radar throughout 2020. After all, this is the country of famous oriental bazaars so why are new supermarkets opening so quickly? Also, in December, two new supermarket chains opened at once and this was after our retail audit of the produce departments. What else could we do? We conducted an additional express audit, which revealed that the newcomers did not start very well. Carrefour was the first international retail chain in Uzbekistan and at least showed very low price levels, but lost to the leaders of other indicators, whereas the ambitious Baraka Market launch frankly failed, which is the worst performance in all parameters.

We hope that our retail audits will help chains to establish their work because the progress of Uzbekistan in exports will depend on the efficiency of supermarkets. Here, the country is now in dire need of higher quality standards, product refinement, and packaging. Our next retail audit of the produce departments of supermarkets will take place in March. It will be interesting!

Сообщение Important horticultural news you might have missed during the holidays появились сначала на EastFruit.

Manufacturers complain that supermarket chains put very high prices for fruits and vegetables on their shelves, but demand very low prices and large payment delays from suppliers.

EastFruit experts analyzed margin levels in supermarket chains in the cities of Kyiv and Dnipro to assess how much the chains earn on different products. To do this, we conducted monitoring in dozens of stores of all popular supermarket chains of these two cities, taking into account only the lowest price for goods of standard quality. Then we compared the averaged indicator for the city with the average wholesale price, at which gardeners and vegetable growers shipped products from their stores or packaging centers. At the same time, we evaluated only the most popular positions of fruits and vegetables.

Monitoring was carried out in November 2019. The research shows the policy of supermarket chains in pricing different categories of products.

“Carrot was the most profitable product for Ukrainian supermarkets in the fruit and vegetable department. The average mark-up for carrots reached 72% and was slightly higher in Kyiv than in the Dnipro. By the way, regarding carrots, vegetable growers had the most complaints, because prices for it this year fell by an average of 60% compared to last year, ” says Andrei Yarmak, an economist at the investment department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “At the same time, of course, this does not mean that all networks earned that much. This is an average indicator. However, our data allows us to derive margins for each individual network of each individual city, ” the expert notes.

Table grapes took second place in terms of profitability, at which supermarkets also earned about 72% in relation to the average wholesale (purchase) price. Greenhouse tomatoes took third place, while supermarkets earned them an average of 58% in relation to the purchase price. However, the margin on cucumbers was only about 28%.

Despite the sharp rise in wholesale apple prices this season, supermarket chains also left very high margins on their sale. In both Kyiv and the Dnipro, the average mark-up for the most affordable supermarket chain apple was 56%. By the way, the margin for onions was about 49% on average.

Another deficient position this year for Ukraine is potatoes. Many Ukrainian supermarkets actively traded imported potatoes from Russia. The average margin, in this case, ranged from 33% in the Dnipro to 40% in Kyiv, subject to the sale of domestic products. When selling imported potatoes, they managed to earn an average of 20% more. This is the answer to the question of why potato imports to Ukraine are breaking all records now. Working with imported potatoes are much more profitable.

But imported fruits were not so profitable for supermarket chains. Margins on citrus fruits (orange and tangerine), as well as on bananas, were minimal, not exceeding 5-10% on average for each of the cities. Probably, for this reason, supermarket chains in Ukraine sell more citrus fruits than potatoes per year.

Considering that EastFruit also determined the level of margins for greens, but neither parsley nor dill is the best-selling goods for supermarkets. Therefore, the mark-up level is higher than at the popular mass positions of vegetables and fruits. Higher earnings were in dill, where the average margin was 272%. That is, dill sold in the supermarket is, on average, 3.7 times more expensive! On parsley, the average margin was 193%.

Сообщение How much do Ukrainian supermarket chains earn from selling fruits and vegetables – margin analysis появились сначала на EastFruit.