September 11 2008, 10:57

Dagestan harvested 5.000 tonnes of new grape crop

The farms of Dagestan started grape harvesting and processing, reported Agroperspectiva, referring to Abdual Khalimov, the Deputy Chairman of the Governmental Committee "Dagvino". "As last winter due to severe frosts some part of grape harvest failed, we do not expect for higher than last year harvest ,"- he noted. "But we will do our best to conduct harvesting campaign with minimal losses".

To date, 5.000 tonnes of new grape crop were harvested. Derbentskiy cognac plant and Derbentskiy plant of sparking wines, Kizlyarskiy cognac plant, Manaskentskiy (Karabudahkentskiy region), Gedzhuh (Derbentskiy region), CJSC named after Sh. Aliev (Derbentskiy region) were the first to start processing of grapes.

According to the forecasts of the specialists, the harvest this year would not exceed last year's level, but the share of grapes directed to processing is expected to increase. Therefore, we may assume that "fresh" grapes would be more expensive than in the previous years.

The price at the level $0.43/kg is set for grapes to processing with sugar content 16%. Depending on sugar content, the price for grapes may somewhat vary. The mass harvesting campaign of grapes will start after September 12-14 and continue till the end of the month.