Russia's largest vegetable producer Eco-Culture is investing in a project in Uzbekistan for the first time. The amount of the investment is over $ 550 million, Vedomsti reports with reference to the company’s president Alexander Rudakov.

According to the Ministry of Economy of Uzbekistan, an agricultural complex will start operating in Surkhandarya region in 2019 with the Eco-Culture’s capital. Its area will be around 314 hectares.

It is reported that the part of the land plot has been bought and the remaining part is leased. Currently, Uzbek and Russian banks are conducting negotiations on the project. 

The company is expected to spend $ 472 million on greenhouses and another $ 92 million on 1000 hectares of orchards, where cherries, apricots, plums and peaches will grow.

Eco-Culture will also build storage facilities, such as freeze-drying plant and a deep-freeze plant. “40% of the production will go to Russia and 60% to China, South Korea, Japan, Middle East and Europe,” says Rudakov. “These are capacious markets with good demand for organic vegetables.”

In Russia, 1 hectare of greenhouses costs $ 3.5–4 million. In Uzbekistan they can be cheaper by about a third. Production costs in Uzbekistan will be about 10% lower than in Russia.