October 18 2007, 11:20

Belcoop union plans to build up the capacities for blueberry freezing

Belcoop union is planning to build up the capacities of its enterprises involved in blueberry freezing, according to information provided by Vladimir Gapanovich, the Chief of Purchase and External Economic Activities Department during the press-conference in Minsk.

At the present moment Belcoop union system includes to operating lines for berry flash freezing - in Ivanovskiy district and on Molodechenskiy food complex. "We intend to further develop this business direction in future", V. Gapanovich observed.

He said that the funds have been already raised for the creation of such production capacity in Glusskiy district, Mogilevskaya region. "This zone is quite rich for resources; Osipovichskiy and Bobruyskiy districts are also drawn to this zone", he pointed out. The creation of the similar production capacity will soon be completed in Postavskiy district; it will "drag in" such resource districts like Glubokskiy, Miorskiy, Dokshitskiy and Ushachskiy districts, V. Gapanovich added. There are also plans to reinstall the line of Molodechenskiy food complex in one of the enterprises on the South of Minskaya region in order to cover the resource zones of Soligorskiy, Lyubanskiy and Starodorozhskiy districts. In its turn, a more advanced processing line will be mounted on Molodechenskiy food complex.

According to information provided by the Chief of Department to Interfax Zapad, Belcoop union exports the main volumes of blueberry to Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. These countries serve as an intermediary link, he explained. The berries are handled there (the enterprises clear berries from the contaminants, calibrate and sort the products). After that the berries are supplied to the final consumers in Scandinavia countries and Germany: Belorussian blueberry is used there to prepare food colorants and fillers. "We have considered the possibility to avoid the intermediary link; but, to do that, we need to go further, to reequip our enterprises, so that we could handle berries to the level acceptable for our final consumers. This business is rather cost-intensive, but we plan to implement it", he added.

V. Gapanovich informed, this year the enterprises of Belcoop union have processed 4,400 tons of blueberry, or 76% more than in 2006. "This is the absolute maximum in the history of consumer cooperation of the country", he observed. The specialist of Belcoop union emphasized that "this result was achieved due to a rather serious competition with commercial structures, also due to the timely payments and the involvement of the additional teams of seasonal workers to pick blueberry". "Thanks to these actions we have been able to cover the maximum resource zones and to get the collection points closer to the places of blueberry harvesting", he added.

Also, the organizations of Belcoop union increased the purchase prices for blueberry till the level offered by commercial organizations. "The purchase prices was record high this year - the prices were formed on the level of RUR 4,000/kg in the beginning of the season; by the end of the season the price increased up to RUR 6,000/kg in some regions", V. Gapanovich observed.