Tomatoes: Which well-known businessmen are betting on… red against the jump in Turkish imports – Economic Post

Tomatoes have simple needs: warmth, light, water, air and nutrients. Although there is no lack of any of these in our country, the production of this particular fruit (yes, the (n)tomato is a fruit according to scientists) remains deficient due to the perennially higher demand. The result is that only in the two years 2022-2023 the expenditure for imports of 41,800 tons of tomatoes from Turkey, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium exceeded 44 million euros.

Fruit and vegetable imports increased by 36.96% in March

The jumpy increase in tomato imports continues this year as well, since according to the data of the Incofruit Exporters Association – Hellas, from the beginning of the year until today, they amount to approximately 1,100 tons compared to 400 tons in the corresponding period last year.

The winner of the distortion between consumption and imports is Turkey, although Greek consumers did not see anywhere that 43% of imported tomatoes came from the neighboring country. Turkey is notably increasing its exports to the EU as European tomato production declines. In fact, the Turkish government aims to increase tomato exports, reaching a value of 5 billion dollars by 2026.

The “red” investments

At the same time, however, the investment efforts by prominent businessmen continue and in fact in the direction of covered high-tech crops, such as hydroponic tomato cultivation.

It should be noted that hydroponics units have 15 times the yield per acre compared to field crops, reduce production costs and protect the product from weather changes. But the biggest disadvantage of this particular crop is the high cost of the initial investment and the uncertainty in the cost of energy.

Wonderplant’s goodwill

The great opportunity that looms in the primary sector is at the heart of the development plans of Spyros Theodoropoulos and only for the new expansion of Wonderplant in Petrousa, Drama, an amount of 50 million euros has been budgeted.

The new investment of the company, which is active in the cultivation of greenhouse tomatoes using the hydroponic method and in electricity, concerns the construction of a 100-acre hydroponic greenhouse, with the corresponding supporting facilities for packing houses, warehouses, etc., as well as a power CHEERING station 9.6 MW, while it has a completion horizon of January 2025 and is going to create 120 new jobs.

Today, Wonderplant’s production, which has 220 acres of greenhouses and a packing plant, exceeds 15,000 tons of tomatoes of three types per year (cherry, cluster-type mesofruit and beef tomato).

In addition to Drama, the versatile businessman has launched a second large hydroponic investment for tomato production, this time in Western Macedonia.

Although the original plan “leaned” on the wider master plan for the de-lignification areas, under the Just Transition Fund, there were changes.

The sales of Wonderplant, which is controlled and managed by businessmen Spyros Theodoropoulos, Michalis Arambatzis, Themi Makris and Stavros Nendo, last year saw an increase of 11.13% to 50.62 million euros. In the same period EBITDA increased by 21.41% to €10.702 million and net profit rose to €4.6 million from €3.974 million in 2022.

New investment project from Thrace Greenhouses

Thermokipia Thraki SA has also been investing in the hydroponics sector for about a decade, with a total area of ​​greenhouses of 195 acres. This is a collaboration between Plastici Thrace and Elastron and currently the company is “running” a new two-year investment plan worth 14.5 million euros, which complements the already implemented investments of 19.8 million euros made by the establishment of the company in 2014.

Through the new investments, the total facilities of Thrace Greenhouses will gradually expand to 260 acres in 2024 and 330 acres in 2026. Accordingly, production will increase by 25% in 2024 and by 22% upon completion of the new investment in 2026.

In addition, it is worth noting that new species and codes will be added to the company’s existing range such as pink tomato, eggplant, as well as new horticultural packaging, while the five-year strategic planning includes the launch of a new modern horticultural greenhouse unit with the simultaneous utilization of the new geothermal field which was granted to Nea Kessani Xanthi.

For 2023 the turnover of Thermokipia Thrace decreased to 8.79 million euros from 9.42 million euros in 2022. The gross profit as an absolute figure was 1.88 million euros against 2.25 million euros in 2022 , while the results after tax decreased by 49% and reached a net profit of 432 thousand euros from 882 thousand euros in the previous year.

Gardens of Karditsa

The 50-acre Karditsa Gardens is a modern greenhouse plant for hydroponic tomato cultivation that has been operating since 2020.

The total enhanced cost of the investment of Karditsa Gardens SA, which was included in the Development Law, was finalized at 7.3 million euros with an initial eligible cost of 10.46 million euros. The project concerns the establishment of a greenhouse hydroponics unit for tomato production in Tsapoha, Karditsa municipality in Thessaly.

The new players

In addition, the first project of Hydranthos with the main shareholder the American investment group Aurarius Investment Group has entered the rails. The company intends to develop a portfolio of hydroponic farms, combined with energy plants throughout Greece and other Southern European countries.

In the meantime, Dimitris Printzios, former head of AB Vassilopoulos’ purchasing department and Konstantinos Machiras, former director of AB group, together with Tryfona Kollintza and Konstantinos Kazantzis founded the company “Sunterra Ecological Greenhouses”, which will be active in the cultivation of greenhouse tomato.

Finally, the decisions of Waterfall Capital Investors on the future of the subsidiary company Bellamia Farms are awaited with interest.

It is recalled that Bellamia Farms had planned to invest over 30 million euros for the vertically integrated production of three types of hydroponic tomatoes – large-fruited in crates and packed bunches and cherries in Lamia, but the continuous increase in the price of gas made the project unsustainable.