Georgia promotes export of herbs to Europe

Georgia’s western Imereti region has started executing a new project that aims to promote industrial production of herbs and export them to European markets.

Georgia experienced a 60 percent decline in export of fresh herbs due to the ongoing crisis in the wider region. To solve this problem and avoid a decline in exports, the country’s Economy Ministry decided to diversify its export markets.

A challenge currently hampering the country’s plan to diversify its export markets was fragmentation of agricultural land, which prevented Georgia from providing different markets with sufficient volumes and a stable supply of high quality products.

To overcome this challenge, Georgia’s Economy Ministry invited a Dutch company to learn about Georgia’s agricultural environment for producing herbs – parsley, cilantro, basil, mint and more. The Dutch company, which was not named, designed an Action Plan to develop greenhouses in Georgia and for attracting new export markets.

On April 15, 2015, local entrepreneurs and the Industrial Development Group of the Economy Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlined both parties’ readiness for "close cooperation”.

The entrepreneurs pledged to create cooperatives and trainings to cooperative members, which expected to increase productivity by 50 percent. At the same time the cooperatives will issue Global CAP certificates to eligible respondents. Global CAP is a non-governmental organisation that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe.

On the other side, the Industrial Development Group pledged to help the cooperatives attract finances and specialists. Furthermore, the Group will help the cooperatives establish cooperation with Dutch trading houses, so Georgian herbs can be exported to European markets without any obstacles.

The European Union (EU) is one of the world’s largest markets for herbs and spices, led by the UK and Germany. It is an expanding market for specific products, mainly triggered by ethnic cookery. Besides the UK and Germany, countries that show the most promising EU export markets include the Netherlands, France and Spain.

Since EU countries do not have suitable agro-climatic conditions to cultivate most spices and herbs, they heavily depend on imports from moderate - or semi-tropical countries. However, some specific spices and herbs are produced in the EU, mainly in eastern and some southern European countries.