December 18 2007, 09:03

Georgian citrus fruits to be packed in Ukrainian boxes

The plant - producer of plastic items was opened in Georgia. The owner of newly opened facility is Ukrainian Closed JSC "Plastnak", "DELO" newspaper informs. The project costs around $ 20 mln.

New enterprise is located in the abandoned premises of the former sports complex in Batumi suburb. "Plastnak" bought the premises from the municipal management on the public tender. The object was under repair for around a year. The necessary utilities and transportation routes have been already laid; the most part of equipment was leased in Ukraine.

On the first stage the plant produces plastic containers for fruits and vegetables; however, the specialists plan to master other types of products soon. "That was not an occasional decision to launch production before Christmas holidays", - Vladimir Lyutiy, the General Director of "Plastnak" says. "It is a season of citrus fruits harvesting now in Georgia, so there is a great demand for our products. But, fruits and vegetables are seasonal products. So, in future we will need to extend the assortment".

"Plastnak" has already signed the first contract with "Agrokomp" firm which supplies Georgian citrus fruits to CIS countries. According to Vladimir Lyutiy, the plant will start working at full capacity in 2009. The tentative period of the project to pay back is 3-4 years. The products are planned to be of interest not only to Georgian, but also to Turkish and Azerbaijani agricultural producers.

Ukrainian company "Plastnak" owns the controlling stock of 85% shares of the plant in Batumi. The shareholders of the enterprise are also Georgian firm "Argo" - 10% and physical entity from Turkey - 5%.