Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Belarus exports more birch sap
Belarusian forestry enterprises have increased birch tree juice export by 68.4%, BelTA learned from Vladimir Mitskevich, Chief Specialist of the Forest Products Sales and Marketing Office of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry.
“Since sap flow began this year as much as 403 tonnes of juice has been exported. During the extraction of the natural beverage in 2012 considerably less juice was exported – 239.3 tonnes,” said the official.
The increase is attributed to the fact that more forestry enterprises are now exporting birch juice. In 2012 only two forestry enterprises did it.
Vladimir Mitskevich said the customer – a Lithuanian company – takes care of all the expenses involved in transporting juice while the purchasing price is slightly higher than the one offered on the home market. However, the official underlined that satisfying the home market demand is prioritized.
Juice export development will allow selling the excessive juice that will not be bought by domestic customers. However, there are difficulties involved in this business. Unprocessed birch juice can easily perish and cannot be kept for more than a day without being processed. In order to export more birch juice, it is necessary to assess how much juice Belarusian companies can process daily, said Vladimir Mitskevich.
This year forestry enterprises of Brest Oblast and Gomel Oblast have finished birch juice harvesting. Taking into account the warm weather other Belarusian forestry enterprises plan to finish it this week.