February 6 2008, 10:07

Italian Ferrero intends to increase the investments to Georgia up to EUR 20 mln.

Italian company Ferrero, one of the leaders of the global confectionary market, plans to double the investments to nuts business of Georgia - up to EUR 20 mln., Agrobel.By informs. "We plan to purchase another 2,000 hectares of land on the West of Georgia; we want to establish hazelnut plantations there", Mauricio Corteze, the representative of the company management, told the journalists.

He also confirmed that the short term perspective was the construction of the enterprise for hazelnut processing of 4,000 tons of nuts per year capacity.

According to earlier provided information, in May past year the company bought 1,235 ha of land in Khobskiy and Zugdidskiy districts (Samegrelo region in Western Georgia) at the land auction; the company paid $1.25 mln. for the land plot.

The share of Georgia amounts to 5-7% on the global hazelnut market. The hazelnut harvest in 2007 was around 30,000 tons, i.e. 28% as much than in 2006. Almost 80% of the grown hazelnut were exported to Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic in particular.

According to the data of the Statistics Department of Georgia, Italy belongs to ten largest trade partners of the Republic.