July 6 2006, 13:16

Construction of first modern storage and fruit consolidating center started in Karel rayon of Georgia

In July 2006 under support of AgVantage project (financed by US Agency of International Development (USAID), BRETA LLC started constructing a new consolidating center to store apples and stone fruits in Karel rayon. This center will be one of the first modern wholesale centers in Georgia. To the opinion of the Project's experts, the center will initiate the dynamic development of the modern wholesale trade of produce commodities, and also it will help improve the export infrastructure of the country.

Two cold storages of the general volume of 300 tons will be in the consolidating center. This year the company plans to store about 200 tons of apples of Golden variety. This long-term storage is planned to last till March 2007. One hundred tons of stone fruits are planned to be stored there till mid October 2006. The harvesting of stone fruits will start in August; apple harvesting is expected to start mid September.

It is interesting to mention that the company plans to export practically all fruits put in storages this year. In the previous years apples of Golden variety were stored in regular storage; the company was able to keep fruits in storage not longer than till late December. New consolidating center with modern equipment will provide an opportunity to significantly increase apple storage period: up to 4 months. To the opinion of the experts of AgVantage project, off-season export of Georgian apples, i.e. from January till March will become possible due to modern storages. The company hopes to supply apples mainly to Ukrainian and Azerbaijan markets when these countries run out of apple stocks and the price for imported produce goes up respectively.

To the opinion of the analysts of the Agricultural Marketing Project, Georgia has good opportunities to supply apples to Ukrainian market if quality and price are relevant. Georgia has an advantage over other suppliers; being GIS member, the country can supply produce tax-free. At the same time, to the opinion of Andrey Yarmak, the Deputy Director of the Agricultural Marketing Project, Georgian suppliers should better export apples not January to March, but April to May to Ukraine. In the latter period of time the volumes of apple consumption remain rather high in Ukraine, inner stocks decrease to the minimum. And, low seasonal import tax for apples is terminated since the 1st of April. So, Georgian suppliers will obtain the real advantage not earlier than in April due to the privilege of tax-free supplies as GIS country. And, they can count on significantly higher price in this period of time comparing to January to March period.