Last year, EastFruit reported that the Ukrainian company FruiTech produced and exported the first batch of blueberry nursery plants for a client from Italy.

According to Oleg Bosyy, managing partner of the company, FruiTech LLC offered European quality seedlings at a competitive price. As a result, a truckload of blueberry nursery plants of the Reka and Bluegold varieties was sent to Italy.

In the difficult conditions of Russian military aggression, disruption of production and supply chains, FruiTech continues to work this year, and even supplies its products to the EU countries.

As Sergiy Zmiichuk, co-owner of FruiTech LLC, said on his Facebook page, the company continues to export nursery plants even to the EU.

“We send blueberry nursery plants to sunny Italy. We make our small contribution to support the Ukrainian economy. We will grow new nursery plants for our Ukrainian producers and after the war we will ship them for autumn planting,” Sergiy writes.

Besides, FruiTech offers two-year-old nursery plants of the following varieties, which can now be bought at a very favorable price:

2.000 Bluegold C1.5

13.000 Bluegold C2

3.000 Bluecrop C2

6.000 Nelson C1.5

20.000 Nelson C2

5.000 Elliott C2

For more information please contact:

tel./fax: +38 043 260 30 80

mobile: +38 067 260 30 80
+38 099 260 30 80

e-mail:   office@ft.ua

Сообщение FruitTech Ukraine – Good prices for top quality nursery plants of blueberries for the EU buyers (photo) появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, Singapore sharply reduced the volume of apple imports in 2021, despite their lower price. Ukraine is not among the suppliers of fresh apples to Singapore for the first time in recent years.

In the first three quarters of 2021, this Asian country imported 27.2 thousand tons of fresh apples – 17% or 5.4 thousand tons less than in the same period in 2020. Imports reduced from all five largest supplying countries: China, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and France.

Notable is that China which had surplus stocks of apples and offered them at a record low price during the first nine months of 2021 also reduced their exports to Singapore. We published a detailed analysis of the Chinese apple market in 2021 in the article: “Apple market in China: high stocks, low prices, pessimistic expectations“.

In this context, the sharp increase in apple imports to Singapore from Turkey and Italy attracts attention. Turkey managed to increase its apple exports to Singapore by 62%, and Italy by 73%. By the way, we have been paying attention to the Turkish apple phenomenon for quite some time. The situation is different in Italy – producers clearly overestimated the demand for apples in the 2020/21 season and entered the summer season with record apple stocks, which they failed to sell before the start of the new harvest. Therefore, apples of the 2020 harvest are still being sold on the Italian market. Thus, Italian wholesale prices were low, and they actively offered their apples in the markets of Southeast Asia at a competitive price.

We remind you that the new season for apple growers and exporters in Eastern Europe may become much more difficult than the previous ones. We have provided a detailed analysis of the reasons in the article “#Freshapplecrisis“.

Сообщение Singapore sharply reduced apple imports and did not import apples from Ukraine in 2021 появились сначала на EastFruit.

September was a successful month for Georgian hazelnut exporters, due to unusual demand on in-shell hazelnuts from Italy.

Last month, Georgian hazelnut exports, both kernel and in-shell, amounted USD 24.5 million. This is 23% more than in September 2020, which was deemed to be a good year given the recovery from the brown marmorated stink bug invasion. Total export volumes on kernel basis have increased by 22%, from 3.4 million kilograms to 4.2.

This improvement is caused by the unprecedented surge in in-shell hazelnut exports. Usually Georgia earns more from hazelnut kernels than from hazelnuts in shell. For example, in last 3 years, both kernel export value and volume are about 11 times higher than those in-shell exports.

Without the increase in in-shell hazelnut exports, or in other words, if there was no year-on-year growth compared to September 2020, total hazelnut export value in September 2021 would be 1% lower compared to the same period a year before.

Source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

According to Georgian exporters, there is a strong demand on in-shell hazelnuts from Italy. This is linked with the supply shortage on Italian market, which did not have a good local harvest this year. In-shell hazelnuts are destined for processing sector, so there is no very strict demand on the walnuts quality. Thus, this is a temporary opportunity for Georgian growers. As a result, export prices for in-shell hazelnuts is higher by 7% compared to September 2020.

In-shell hazelnut exports in September 2021 amounted to USD 6.1 million, or 2.3 million kilograms (in-shell basis). Export value is 400% more than year before, while volume has increased by 367%.

Source: Ministry of Finance of Georgia

Interestingly, we are seeing a slight reduction in kernel basis exports. Both volume and value are down by 2% compared to September last year, and there is no change in export prices. This reduction is caused by two factors: initially delayed harvesting due to rains, and producers waiting for a better moment to sell their top quality hazelnuts.

Overall, exports during the first two months of the new season are better than in the previous seson. Revenue from hazelnut exports reached USD 32.7 million, which is an increase of 16%.

Сообщение Higher exports of Georgian hazelnuts compared to last season появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts have repeatedly drawn attention to the trends in the global cherry market, which is growing very quickly and requires cherries of larger calibers. In particular, we wrote about this in detail in the article “Global cherry market and Chinese cherry phenomenon”.

It is not surprising that all the nurseries are in constant search of new varieties and technologies that would make it possible to obtain the largest possible size of cherries. A new record for the size of cherries was broken in Italy.

According to the website of the nursery Salvi Vivai, at the experimental cherry plantation of the Salvi Vivai company in Runco di Portomaggiore in the province of Ferrara, the weight of one Sweet Stephany fruit was recorded at 26.45 grams and broke the previous record of 23.93 grams.

The caliber of the largest, record-breaking fruit was close to 41 mm, and the average cherry calibers ranged from 32 to 36 mm.

“Salvi Vivai naturally took this news with great pride: it meant international recognition for the development and research that started thirty years ago in collaboration with prestigious universities, – explains Silvia Salvi, Managing Director of Salvi Vivai. – Experimenting with a new variety of fruit trees requires significant investment, since the effect of each type of processing on the product must be studied. The amount of water, added nutrients, and agronomic treatments must be adjusted every year to ensure continuous improvement of the variety. The fact that we are producing Guinness World Record cherries is another crowning achievement of our teamwork.”

Read also: The demand for Moldovan cherries is still low in Russia

“After ten years of development and research in the cultivation of a special cherry variety, this result is very satisfying because it confirms the importance of the work done over the years,” explains Stefano Tartarini, professor at the Department of Science and Food and Agriculture at the University of Bologna and a new project manager at Sweet.

The project that led to creation of the Sweet family was started thirty years ago under the leadership of Professor Emeritus Silviero Sasavini and Dr. Stefano Luigi – it was a long process of crossbreeding and selection in a traditional way.

Recall that one of the main problems in the export of cherries in Uzbekistan now is the difficulty in collecting bulks of cherries of 28+ for importers from China and other countries where they are ready to pay a premium price for large-caliber cherries.

Сообщение Size of cherry matters появились сначала на EastFruit.

The EastFruit team conducted a virtual study-tour for farmers in our region who are interested in growing greens and aromatic herbs as a greenhouse business. To do this, we visited the Italian company Orto Ricci, which produces aromatic herbs, salads and vegetables both on 30 hectares in Anzio, near Rome.

A video report on how aromatic herbs are grown in Italy, both packed and in pots, is available here. The information can be especially relevant for countries where culinary herbs are an important export item – – for Georgia and for Uzbekistan.

What notable things did we see in Orto Ricci? We saw how to make more than € 2 million per hectare growing aromatic herbs in a hydroponic system. We learned what sub-irrigation is, how sub-irrigation mats or auto-irrigation mats function, how a floating sub-irrigation system works, what are the advantages of the sea climate, how long a greenhouse can work, what is basil biofortification with selenium and why it is needed, how an integrated pest management helps in marketing and much more.

Assortment of aromatic herbs and vegetables

Orto Ricci has a huge assortment of aromatic herbs and even vegetables, but about 75% of their total revenue comes from one crop – basil. Why basil and where does so much of it go?

Italy is famous for its pizza and the most popular pizza is, of course, Margarita. And here you cannot do without the basil. However, it is also used in many other dishes – in famous pesto sauce, in baked goods and salads, as a seasoning for fish, etc. By the way, there are quite a few types of basil. In the assortment of “Orto Ricci”, in addition to ordinary basil, there are brown, red, lemon and licorice basil.

What’s interesting, even nettles are grown here As a part of the list of herbs offered by the company: common and marsh mint, lemon balm, marjoram, myrtle, rosemary, sage, catnip, savory, tarragon, thyme, coriander (cilantro), lavender, borage, oregano, chives, lemongrass! The assortment also includes leafy salads, pumpkin flowers, etc. A separate line is cherry tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables for indoor growing in pots, which many use as ornamental plants at home.

Dill and parsley

The most popular types of greens in the post-Soviet countries, such as dill and parsley are almost unknown here. Parsley is still used in some recipes, but dill is unknown in Italy. Fennel is sometimes found here, which is often confused with dill, but real dill is almost impossible to find. However, the country is home to several hundred thousand people from the post-Soviet space, mainly from Ukraine. Therefore, Orto Ricci is now setting up the production of both dill and parsley. After all, there is a demand, which means you can make money on it.

However, let’s move on to the actual greenhouse business of growing aromatic herbs.

Location, climate, exports and domestic market

Why do Italian producers try to be close to the sea? The climate is milder here – warmer in winter and cooler in summer. And this means saving money on heating greenhouses in winter and fewer diseases and pests.

Orto Ricci has tried exporting greens to the UK, but most packed herbs are not suitable for long-term storage and potted plants take up a lot of space and are too heavy to make exporting such products profitable. Therefore, they decided to sell their products not only in the domestic market of Italy but concentrated on the market of the capital region of Italy and other regions in central Italy. First, the market is large enough. Secondly, the logistics costs are lower. Thirdly, the quality and freshness of the products are thus perfect. Well, and fourthly, in this way the company avoids many other issues.

Types of greenhouses for growing aromatic herbs

The hydroponic greenhouses used for growing aromatic herbs are quite old – around 25 years old. These are glass greenhouses, with ventilation (opening vents on the roof) that is very important to keep the air humidity under control in summer. Indeed, in these greenhouses, greens are grown in special floating cassettes with sub-irrigation, which means the humidity is usually quite high that can lead to plant diseases.

There is full digitalization in greenhouses – climate, irrigation water composition and other growing parameters are monitored with a computer system. The greenhouse, accordingly, has a variety of sensors.

In winter, the main problem is a lack of light, which leads to a slowdown in plant growth and can provoke the spread of diseases. To reduce energy consumption for heating greenhouses, special heat-shielding curtains are opened over the plants at night, keeping heat.

In summer, on the contrary, glass and film greenhouses are whitened from the outside in order to avoid overheating of plants. The whitewash self-decomposes under the hot Roman sun over the summer and the transparency of the glass is restored by autumn without additional costs.

The company also uses foil greenhouses and even grows its produce outdoors in summer.

Types of irrigation, what is sub-irrigation and how the company saves water

Herbs are grown mainly either in a sterile environment on floating foam trays, or in pots on sub-irrigation mats (special rugs with auto-irrigation). In addition, some of the greens are grown in the ground.

In hydroponic greenhouses, plants simply float in the nutrient solution in special lightweight foam trays. Plants reach up to the solution with their roots and get the nutrients they need. At the same time, the leaves remain dry and clean, which helps avoid problems with diseases and pests, which means to ensure a higher purity of products and environmental friendliness of the business.

The nutrient solution is constantly aerated and the computer monitors its chemical composition to ensure the ideal nutrition for each crop.

To reduce water consumption, Orto Ricci has a rainwater collecting system that is purified and used in greenhouses. The irrigation water in which the trays with plants float is changed only once a year.

Subirrigation mats, also called self-irrigated rugs, are also used mainly in glass greenhouses, but for growing greens and vegetables in pots. The nutrient solution is supplied to the rug, and plants reach out to the roots through the hole in the pot to the rug and receive the nutrition they need. Thanks to this approach, both the substrate and the leaves of the plants remain dry, which makes production more environmentally friendly. In addition, this approach avoids unnecessary waste of water and fertilizers, because they are more efficiently used by plants.

Integrated Plant Protection System (IPPS)

The company’s agronomists are constantly experimenting, trying to find approaches to reduce or completely eliminate the use of crop protection chemicals. Thanks to IPPS, an integrated approach is used that ensures the minimum use of chemical plant protection products when growing greens, salads and vegetables. For example, we were shown an experiment how the proximity of different crops in a greenhouse affects their development. This allows to discover new solutions for improving the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the business.

Labor force is an important factor in competitiveness

Since growing greenery, despite the maximum levels of business automation, requires a lot of manual labor, the cost of labor has a high share in the cost of the herbs. Most likely, this is another reason why the company relied on fresh herbs, because it avoids competition with imports from countries where labor is cheaper.

Orto Ricci employs many foreigners, mostly from Punjab, India. Therefore, all announcements and messages in the company’s greenhouses are duplicated in Italian and Punjabi. The employment is all official and the labor costs the company about 10 € per hour taxes included.

Cleaning of the herbs

Greenery is harvested by taking trays with plants and placing them in a special cutting machine. The roots remaining in the trays are shaken out, and undamaged trays are cleaned for reuse.

Cut greens are packed in bags for sale in supermarket chains. To increase the implementation period, only preliminary washing is carried out, and consumers should wash the greens once again.

Cleaning up potted greenery is not a problem at all. Since the pots are on sub-irrigation mats, you just need to pick them up and pack them.

Plastic-free biodegradable packaging and pots

The company takes pride in its efforts to reduce its negative impact on the environment. All packaging used by the company is biodegradable.

One of the hot questions is the use of biodegradable pots for growing potted greens and vegetables. The fact is that supermarkets require such greens to be supplied in biodegradable pots. However, they cost three times more than ordinary ones, and consumers pay attention not to the pot, but to the herb and its price. Therefore, greens in ordinary plastic pots can win in price.

Productivity of herbs with year-round cultivation 

The yield of basil in hydroponic greenhouses on sub-irrigation is from 7 to 10 tons per cycle from each hectare of greenhouses. The cycle lasts about 20 days in summer and about 30 days in winter. On average, it is possible to make about 14 production cycles per year. This means that the yield is about 120 tons per hectare.

Considering that the average selling price for cut basil, which is usually sold in packs of 50 grams, is 20 euros per kg, the total revenue per hectare of such greenhouses exceeds 2 million euros per year.

Herbs, Nickel-Free Basil and Selenium Biofortification of Basil

An interesting observation is that the company would like to grow smaller potted herbs than it currently does. This would lead to faster turnover. In addition, these greens are healthier for consumers. However, buyers prefer overgrown greens because think they are buying more.

A very important indicator of the quality of greens is their low nickel content – almost nickel-free.

The growing demand for a healthy lifestyle is constantly forcing the company to look for new ways to increase the benefits of the herbs. One of these areas was the cultivation of basil with a high selenium content.

Selenium is considered one of the most important trace minerals for human health. It plays an essential role in the functioning of the thyroid gland and in metabolism. Selenium helps protect cells from damage and oxidative stress by strengthening immunity, improving brain function, and even reducing the risk of heart disease.

Selenium is believed to help prevent some liver diseases, protect body from heavy metal poisoning. Since selenium is involved in the metabolism of iodine, this makes it an essential element for humans.

That is why Orto Ricci has been developing a program for biofortification or bio-saturation of the basil grown here with selenium for two years now.

Since selenium in basil accumulates better if plants get it through the roots, and not through foliar feeding, this was great for a company where sub-irrigation is mainly used.

As young leaves contain more selenium, the company was looking for the fastest growing varieties of basil. As a result, the choice was made in favor of the Gemini basil variety from SAIS Sementi. In addition, a cultivation technology has been worked out, which would make it possible to obtain the same yield of basil biofortified with selenium as for the ordinary basil. The company hopes this will give it an additional competitive advantage in Italy’s highly competitive market of fresh herbs.

Competition in the green market continues to increase

Since growing aromatic herbs allows for a high income per hectare of land, competition in this market continues to grow. The growth of competition in the market is taking place despite the high investment required to create modern greenhouses.

In addition, the world is now experiencing a real boom in investments in greenhouse technology and especially in the creation of vertical farms, which allows to grow greens anywhere and even in large cities.

However, these technologies have not yet found widespread use in Italy, and Orto Ricci, thanks to its continuous improvement of the quality, environmental friendliness and freshness of herbs, feels quite confident on the market, continuing to develop.

The EastFruit team is grateful to Orto Ricci for the opportunity to learn from them and for their openness in providing information.

Сообщение Growing aromatic herbs in greenhouses – learning from Italy (video) появились сначала на EastFruit.

Italy is known as an exporter of the highest quality fruit and berry nursery plants. According to EastFruit analysts, Italy ranks second in the world in terms of fruit and berry nursery plants exports, after the Netherlands.

Therefore, the first historical export shipment of blueberry plants to Italy from a Ukrainian nursery sounds even more exciting. After all, Ukraine itself is one of the twenty largest importers of Italian nursery plants of fruit and berry crops.

Ukrainian company FruiTech, which produced and exported the first batch of blueberry nursery plants to its client in Italy explained to EastFruit that it was not very easy to convince an Italian buyer to buy nursery plants from Ukraine. The recommendations of a Ukrainian fresh berry exporter, who knew and the Italian buyer and was developed a trust with them, played an important role here.

However, the quality of the Ukraine’s nursery plants and their price turned out to be even more convincing in comparison with competitors from the European Union. “We could offer a product of an EU-quality and a competitive price, which is the main reason the buyer chose us. As a result, we exported to Italy a truckload of blueberry nursery plants of the Reka and Bluegold varieties, which should be enough to plant 9-10 hectares of blueberries,” Oleg Bosyy, Managing Partner of FruiTech LLC, explains.

He also notes that atfer the first export shipment, several more potential Italian customers became interested in purchasing blueberry plants from the Ukrainian nursery. Therefore, it is possible that there will be more shipments to Italy soon.

Prior to that, blueberry plants from Ukrainian nurseries were exported mainly to Georgia and Armenia, and in 2020 a small batch of nursery plants was delivered even to Poland. This year, FruiTech expanded the exports market of blueberry nursery plants to include Kazakhstan and Moldova. They are also now considering requests from potential buyers of high-quality berry planting material from several Central Asian countries, where interest in blueberry cultivation has grown significantly recently.

As EastFruit notes, FruiTech is known among Ukrainian and Eastern European berry producers for its transparency in doing business and for an uncompromising fight against violations of intellectual property rights for berry varieties.

FruiTech LLC itself considers the management of intellectual property rights of plant varieties to be its main activity. “The introduction, production testing, state registration and licensing of new, promising varieties of fruit and berry crops in cooperation with leading scientific institutions and breeding centers from around the world is the basis for the activity of FruiTech LLC,” the company’s website says.

Moreover, FruiTech, in cooperation with the best Ukrainian and foreign producers of planting material, offers high-quality certified nursery plants of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and tall blueberries for commercial producers of berry crops and is an important source of high-quality inputs for professional nurseries. The company also provides full technological support and consulting support for clients with the involvement of the best Ukrainian and foreign specialists. Such support includes the development of technological maps, planning of the protection system, recommendations for plant fertilization and field visits during the organization of important technological operations.

Сообщение Ukraine is now exporting blueberry nursery plants to Italy! появились сначала на EastFruit.

The Moldova Fruct Association, in partnership with the Livada Moldovei project and the Plant Production Research Center in Cesena (Italy) have launched an initiative to test new peach and apricot varieties in the country, MOLDPRES reported.

For this, 14 varieties were selected for testing in the southern and central regions of the country. Platimoon, Orihuela, Sweet Cap, Ufo and Alissa are some of the varieties that have been selected with the help of Italian partners and grown on the fields of two member companies of the Moldova Fruct Association.

“Moldova currently does not have the opportunity to research and test new varieties, and producers are forced to test different varieties directly in production and often risk their investments. We decided to take the first steps in testing so that people could see in practice how different varieties of peach and apricot behave, and then make the right decision,” Evgeniy Bumakov, agribusiness specialist at Moldova Fruct explained.

Experts say that at the moment there is a market for all types of fruits, but it is necessary to choose the modern varieties that are most demanded by consumers. According to experts, the field of research in the country has lagged behind, and reform is needed, along with updating other sectors and the legislative framework. This takes time, but the horticultural sector needs solutions now, so the association, together with partners, took the first steps to offer these solutions to producers.

“The Association invites representatives of research institutes to make recommendations. We are grateful to the producers who volunteered to try the varieties on their land. In the next period, all the accumulated experience will be used in the seminars that we organize for our members, as well as for all producers concerned,” Iurie Fala, Executive Director of the Moldova Fruct Association, concluded.

Сообщение Moldovan producers will test Italian varieties of peach and apricot появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to the Italian fruit associations, the harvest of stone fruit in Italy will be at an all-time low this year. According to EastFruit experts, Italian traders are now even interested in cherries from Uzbekistan, realizing that a big shortage on the Italian market might occur.

According to preliminary estimates, Italy will lose around a third of the harvest this season. This means that Italy could have the necessity to import more than 50 thousand tons of cherries, compared to the usual 10-14 thousand tons, according to EastFruit.

Turkish cherry exporters, who lost the access to the important Chinese cherry market, are likely to benefit the most from the situation. In addition, Turkey continues to increase the volume of cherries production, which means it will look forward to new opportunities in Italy.

On the other hand, it is most likely that there will be fewer tourists than usual this summer in Italy. Although, it is also possible that there will be more of them compared to 2020. Tourists come to the country after cherries from Turkey run out, thus, this can also be an opportunity for exporters of cherries from Eastern Europe, primarily from Moldova and Ukraine.

To supply cherries to Italy, you must have at least hydro-cooling equipment for cherries. Equipment for optical sorting, modified atmosphere bags (MAP) and experience in packaging and logistics under EU requirements are also preferrable. It is also highly desirable that the exporter has full traceability of the origin of the goods, and that producers have GlobalGAP certification.

We remind you that you can find suppliers of  hydro-cooling systems, packaging and other technologies on our open technological platform EF Technology, and suppliers and buyers of cherries can be found on the largest trading platform for fruits and vegetables EF Trade Platform.

Сообщение Ukraine and Moldova could export cherries to Italy in 2021 появились сначала на EastFruit.

On May 1, 2020, the Uzbek-Italian joint venture BMB-Opera Zafferano was established and will operate as a medicinal plants cluster. 5 million saffron (crocus) bulbs were shipped from the Italian city of Brescia to Uzbekistan as reported by the Dunyo news agency.

According to the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Italy, a convoy of trucks with cargo carrying 64.5 tons traveled 6,800 kilometers across Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The premium bulbs of this unique plant sent from Italy to Uzbekistan have been created by Italian breeders for centuries. These bulbs are to be planted on the hills of the Bakhmal district in the Jizzakh region to grow saffron.

The project for the cultivation and industrial processing of saffron and other medicinal plants in the Jizzakh region for export to Italy and other European countries was initiated by the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Rome.

The companies BMB Trade Group in Uzbekistan and Opera SRL in Italy signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the implementation of the aforementioned project, which includes:

• soil study for growing saffron and the construction of a research and innovation laboratory for certification and determination of product quality;
• involvement of professional agronomists and technologists;
• supply of modern equipment and launch of production for the processing of saffron for technical, medical, culinary, and other purposes; and
• organization of packaging and exporting of products to Italy.

The total cost of this investment project is 34.4 million euros. Most of the investment will go towards the purchase and supply of high-quality saffron bulbs. The project is expected to create about 200 permanent and 7,000 seasonal jobs for the local population. The project has also attracted qualified agronomists and technologists from Italy to Uzbekistan and in the near future, it is planned to create modern certification laboratories.

Read also: Saffron cultivation is gaining momentum in Sweden

During the dispatch of saffron bulbs to Uzbekistan in May, the President of Opera SRL Paolo de Angelis said: “This event is undoubtedly of special significance in the history of trade and economic relations between Italy and Uzbekistan because the saffron bulbs grown in our country are leaving their historical homeland for the first time. As part of our project, 5 million bulbs are being sent from Brescia and we plan to send the remaining 75 million bulbs in the coming days.

“A year ago, with the support of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Italy, BMB TradeGroup and Opera SRL launched this project. Thanks to the favorable investment climate created today, new broad opportunities for doing business in Uzbekistan are opening up.

“I say this based on my personal observations and experience. In confirmation of this, I can say that the administration of the Jizzakh region in a short time allocated 400 hectares of land in the Bakhmal region to our project. In addition, we feel the full support and assistance in the implementation of the project from the ministries of foreign affairs, investment and foreign trade, and agriculture of Uzbekistan. We want to create one of the largest saffron plantations in the world, which will allow Uzbekistan to become a leading player in the international market.

“In addition, together with BMB TradeGroup, we plan to create additional production facilities in the saffron cluster for the production of finished products that are in demand for cooking, pharmaceuticals, and other industries.”

It is known that a long-term export contract for the supply of processed and pre-packaged saffron products worth 12 million euros has already been signed with the GESFARM company, which supplies products to more than 5,000 pharmacies in Italy.

Сообщение Uzbek-Italian joint venture to create one of the world’s largest saffron plantations появились сначала на EastFruit.

In October this year, the agro-trading company Agarista Agricola SRL sent the first batch (20 tons) of Moldovan plums to Italy. The buyer is a relatively small enterprise with a wholesale and retail market as well as a specialized fruit and vegetable store. Their goal is to diversify and replenish the assortment of fruits yields in decline in EU countries by providing small supplies of high-quality and relatively inexpensive products from various regions of Europe. According to representatives of grower and exporter organizations in the Republic of Moldova, this is the first (but not the last) supply of Moldovan plums of the 2020 harvest to the Italian market.

Read also: Rosselkhoznadzor has banned the import of a consignment of plums from Moldova

Agarista Agricola SRL, part of a group of Moldovan agricultural enterprises, established a marketing program for entering the EU fruit market as well as contacts with potential buyers as part of the Moldova Investment Climate Reform project funded by CBI, the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (the Netherlands). With additional support from USAID’s Effective Agriculture of Moldova (APM) project to solve the problem of increasing the export of plums to the European Union, the company was certified according to the GlobalG.A.P standard in 2019. In the last marketing year, Agarista Agricola SRL started exporting plums to Germany delivering more than 200 tons of products.

According to Diana Vlasyuk, development manager of Agarista Agricola SRL, the most important requirement for the Italian buyer was that the plums comply with the strict standards regarding residual content of pesticides in fruits. The company conducted additional laboratory tests of the products, which confirmed the fulfillment of the client’s conditions “with a margin.”

Сообщение Moldovan plums exported to Italy появились сначала на EastFruit.