Rudnap Agrar to make plantation at 500 ha in Irig - investment worth EUR 50m

Rudnap Agrar has started planting fruit trees, mainly apple trees, on 500 ha in the municipality of Irig, on southern slopes of Fruška Gora, in which EUR 50m will be invested.

Planting will be done in phases. About 490,000 trees will be planted this year on 130 ha with the investment of EUR 12.5m. The preparation works for the second phase of planting, on the remaining 370 ha, should start in autumn and everything should be finished prior to 2012.

For the time being, only apple trees are being planted. People in Rudnap Agrar plan to plant some other fruit trees on certain part of the plantation. Majority of journalists who visited the plantation on Friday, April 23, suggested planting of pear trees, hoping for their lower price because the current price of that fruit in Belgrade's markets were astronomically high.

However, what is for sure at the moment is that five apple sorts will soon be coming from Irig: granny smith, gold and red delicious, fuji and gala. These two-year nursery plants are bought from Italian manufacturer Griba from south Tirolia.

Rudnap Agrar is a member of Rudnap Group. Many people were wondering why there was a new sector in the group?

- Rudnap Group, which is active in the energy sector, has recognized the potential of Serbian agrarian sector over the past few years as one of the most attractive commercial branches in which Serbia can make significant progress. We are very satisfied with our entrance to the agricultural sector – said Aleksandar Skulić, CEO of Rudnap Group.

He also said that all the necessary infrastructure equipment had been provided. Six wells have been built and equipped for the needs of the up-to-date "drop by drop" irrigation system, which includes sensors and weather station that provide the plants with optimum quantity of water at any moment. The anti-hail net and anti-frost system on the plantation will preserve the quality of crops in case of possible bad weather.

Construction of a cold storage plant for 8,000 tons of fruits has started and it should be finished in mid-2011 at the latest. According to Skulić's words, the cold storage plant will not only be big enough for Rudnap Agrar's apples from the first phase, but also for the fruits of local fruit growers. Warehouse, storage space and hanger are also part of the accompanying contents of this plantation.

Half of the apples from this plantation will be exported to the markets of the European Union and Russia, while the second half is intended for our market. If we remember how many problems Serbian apple growers had in the previous year, primarily due to low purchase price, we must ask ourselves if there is space in our market for such big production?

- I would not take the last year's price as a model. I would rather focus on the long-lasting trend of growth of the price of apples. I think there is enough space for us, especially if we look at the structure of export and the structure of our projected apple production. The sorts that are currently present in Serbia are not in demand in the European market. Last year, our country imported about 20,000 tons of apples of the sorts we are planting now. We only want to substitute that import and to sell part of our production through retail chains - CEO of Rudnap Group told eKapija.

Vladimir Bura, the Adviser to Rudnap Agrar's CEO, says that the first apple crop of 500 tons is expected in autumn, while the full capacity of the orchard of 50 to 60 tons of apples per hectare is expected to be reached in four years.

People in Rudnap Agrar plan that the investment be paid off in six years and, as Skulić told our portal, the investment of EUR 50m has been provided partially from the company's budget and partially from the loans of UniCredit Bank and Banca Intesa.

At the moment, 170 seasonal workers and 10 agricultural engineers from the municipalities of Irig and Ruma are working on the plantation.

J.Đ.