February 22 2006, 13:41

Does SANDORA plan to have own fruit and vegetable production?

According to the information provided to "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal, the representatives of the produce business in Kherson oblast talk about a vivid interest of SANDORA company to the further expansion of this market, the largest region - producer of raw materials in Ukraine. Kherson farmers say that SANDORA will possibly establish own tomato production soon through affiliated structures. And, the company is expected to construct a mini-plant for the preliminary tomato processing into puree and tomato paste in Kherson oblast. The products will be further used for juice production.

The weekly journal also got the information that the company is considering the possibilities to increase control on fruit raw material supplies, as the competition for this product is constantly escalating. We came to know that SANDORA has a long-term plan to establish an intensive orchard. The company has recently inquired about the possibility to lease a large orchard, but the plans were canceled, as to the tentative information.

To our regret, we failed to get confirmation from the company. To the opinion of Andriy Yarmak, the Senior Market Information Specialist of the Agricultural Marketing Project, the processing enterprises face problems to provide the supplies of vegetable and fruit/berry raw materials, as the processing capacity and the demand on the fresh market are constantly growing. In this situation many processing enterprises of Ukraine plan to plant own fields with vegetables, fruits and berries. To the experts' opinion, SANDORA is likely to consider such options; moreover, many vertically integrated companies are working successfully in the world, they produce, process, store and trade fruits and vegetables independently. The investment model of farm development can be one of the most successful projects in Ukraine involving farmers to produce fruits and vegetables for processing. The model of own raw material production is not so prospective. Time will show which way SANDORA chooses.