Vitebsk Winery is looking for an investor to create a joint venture for tea production

April 30, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. OJSC "Vitebsk Winery" is looking for an investor to create a joint venture for tea packaging, the enterprise director Vyacheslav Sapronov told a BELTA correspondent. It is planned to organize new production on the idle premises of the enterprise in OJSC "Rudakovo". The required investment volume, according to preliminary estimates, is about $500 thousand. These funds are intended to purchase the necessary equipment, create raw material reserves, and organize new jobs. Vitebsk Winery has been producing tea since 2009 as part of the state import substitution program. A special unit was created for the organization of new production, and the necessary equipment from domestic and foreign manufacturers was purchased. The total investment for these purposes amounted to about Br400 million of the plant's own funds. High-quality tea raw materials are purchased directly from Sri Lanka, where they are dried and brought to readiness. Currently, 10 types of tea are already on sale: Ceylon, Indian, as well as tea with the addition of oregano, St. John's wort, mint, blackcurrant leaves, and dried apples. All products are released under the "Dobry Kum" trademark. In the first quarter of this year, the plant produced 4.6 tons of tea for Br112 million, increasing its production threefold compared to the entire last year. "Meanwhile, the tea consumption capacity in the Belarusian market, according to marketing research, is 8-10 thousand tons. Currently, a negligible amount of this product is produced and sold by Belarusian enterprises and companies. The main part is imports. Thus, this is actually a free niche today, which we intend to fill with our high-quality and natural products," the head emphasized. In general, in January-March, the enterprise produced products worth Br4.2 billion, which is 12% higher than the same level last year. The overall profitability of sales was 14.4%, including 10% for tea production. The enterprise was founded in the early 1930s. It specializes in the production of fruit and grape wines, and tea. The latter direction currently accounts for about 6% of the total production volume. However, the plant intends to increase it several times in the near future. -0-