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December 5 2007, 10:53

Direct Group to invest € 66 mln. to apples in Krasnodarskiy kray

Vedomosti informs, Direct Group company, the former co-owner of Ozon internet-shop, will invest EUR 66 mln. to apple production in Krasnodarskiy kray, according to Pasqual Clemaunt, the General Director. The specially set up Alma Group will implement the project, as well as several French investors which names he did not mention. The representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Krasnodarskiy Kray specified that the land plot for the orchard establishment has been already allocated. Alma Group will grow apples on 1,300 ha in Abinskiy district. There is a plan to get first harvest by 2010; the production will reach 50,000 tons in 2012. The farm "Sad-Gigant" is located in the same district; it produces 35-50,000 tons per year. Alma Group expects for the company's trade turnover to reach EUR 27 mln. by 2014 and for the project to fully pay back. According to Alma's data, now the whole Russian apple market amounts to 2 mln. tons (the annual growth is 15%). More than half of this volume is imported from France, Italy, Poland and China. "The demand for Russian apples is high", Svetlana Topilina says, the Press Secretary of the company "Sady Pridonya". "The largest national producer, "Sad-Gigant" successfully supplies large shipments of apples to trade chains", David Kalikhman, General Director of fruit importer "Globus" says. Gleb Tikhomirov, Financial Director of Sucden in Russia, recollects that his company discussed the idea of apple production, but the project turned out to be too expensive. Teimuraz Bolloyev, the former President of "Baltika" brewing company grows now apples in Krasnodarskiy Kray. Artem Bogoslavskiy, the manager of Bolloyev's enterprise, earlier said that the cost efficiency of this business may reach 40%.