Composition of Alliance of Nut Exporters in Azerbaijan Confirmed

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / Five nut-producing companies in Azerbaijan will be united in the alliance of nut exporters and their first meeting will take place within the next two weeks, said the Marketing Manager of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Found (AZPROMO), Teymur Tagiyev.

"They have already reached an initial agreement and will sign a memorandum on the establishment of the alliance and agreement on constituency during the meeting," Tagiyev said. Alliance of nut producers will include BakFem, Gilan, ElFem, Zakatala-findig (managed by Azersun Holding) and Ali Said.

Presently, the key nut producers in the country are BakFem, Gilan, ElFem, which possess tremendous production capacities. Enterprises BakFem and Gilan are fully provided with European equipment, but they still have problems of technological and management character, as well as aflatoxin element in the nuts.

The key task of the alliance will be to resolve problems with aflatoxin and organize the production in accordance with European standards. According to Tagiyev, the German Society of Technical Assistance (GTZ) will provide support in organizing the activity of the alliance. GTZ has completed its marketing research for nuts in Azerbaijan. The necessity to assess the process of production, preservation and the transportation of the walnuts is linked with the ban on the export of walnuts from Azerbaijan to European countries. AZPROMO is negotiating with the European Union to cancel the ban which was due to aflatoxin being detected in the composition of nuts exported from Azerbaijan to European markets, which occurred through the violation of transportation and storage conditions.