Vitebsk fruit and vegetable processing plant will export products worth $395 thousand in the first half of 2010.

December 11, Minsk / Tatyana Lobas - BELTA /. Vitebsk Fruit and Vegetable Canning Plant OJSC intends to export 50 thousand conventional cans of baby food preserves worth $95 thousand and semi-finished purees worth $300 thousand in the first half of 2010. This is almost 3 times more than in the whole of 2008, when exports amounted to $144.7 thousand, the enterprise director Rostislav Goshko told a BELTA correspondent. "This year is not indicative in this regard, export supplies were insignificant, for example, we hardly shipped baby food to Russia," the director noted. Since the beginning of the year, exports have amounted to $169.9 thousand, including $5776 worth of baby food preserves sold. The enterprise mainly sells semi-finished purees and baby food preserves on the foreign market. In order to organize stable supplies to the Russian and Ukrainian regions next year, work is underway to obtain certification and state hygienic registration in the Russian Federation and Ukraine. It is planned to organize supplies of baby food and semi-finished purees to Russia - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kostroma and Tver. An agreement has been reached to supply 10 thousand conventional cans of baby food to Dnepropetrovsk and Shchors (Ukraine). Baby food preserves are also expected in Kazakhstan: it is planned to ship 10 tubes each to Astana and Kostanay. Semi-finished carrot puree worth $100 thousand will be supplied to Armenia. In January-November of the current year, the enterprise produced 2 million 370 thousand conventional cans of baby food preserves worth $6.8 billion. Last year, during the same period, 1577 tubes worth $3.4 billion were produced. By the end of the current year, it is planned to produce at least 2 million 670 thousand baby food preserves worth $7617 million, which is 65% more than last year. Baby food this year was mainly sold on the domestic market, where it enjoyed stable demand. Thus, in January-November, 2.33 million conventional cans of baby food were sold, which is 1.7 times more than in the same period last year. "The production of baby food has become the main focus of the plant. The workshop capacity is 7 million conventional cans per year," the head of the enterprise noted. A distinctive feature of the plant is the production of preserves from wild fruits and berries. The enterprise also focuses on the production of baby food based on apples and carrots with the addition of natural ingredients grown in Belarus (cherries, plums, cranberries, chokeberries, lingonberries). In January-November of the current year, 17 new types of products were produced, including 14 types of purees and 3 types of juices. Great attention is paid to the production of natural preserves without added sugar or with reduced sugar content. The enterprise has implemented a quality system based on HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). It covers the entire process of production and storage of fruit and vegetable-based baby food preserves and semi-finished purees for their production. All baby food recipes for the enterprise are developed by the Scientific and Practical Center for Foodstuffs of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Currently, the range of baby food preserves includes 12 items, 10 of which are fruit and vegetable purees. Vitebsk Fruit and Vegetable Canning Plant was founded in 1993, and in 2008 the enterprise was corporatized. The plant specializes in the production of fruit, berry and vegetable preserves for baby food, semi-finished purees, and aseptically canned products. -0-