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Experts from EastFruit, an information and analytical platform for the fruit and vegetable market in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, have already drawn attention to Turkmenistan's "incredibly rapid expansion" in the production and export of greenhouse vegetables, primarily greenhouse tomatoes.

In particular, Turkmenistan has been actively pushing Uzbekistan in its traditional sales markets for several years now. “And if earlier Uzbek exporters looked down on a competitor, believing that he could compete only on price, now greenhouse tomatoes from Turkmenistan are showing significant progress in quality,” EastFruit writes.

A vivid example of this phenomenon right now can be seen in the markets of Tajikistan, where on Friday the first large batch of greenhouse tomatoes from Turkmenistan arrived.

“Today, the first truckload of Turkmen greenhouse tomatoes arrived at the Khujand wholesale market, and half a truckload has already been sold. There is really a queue of buyers for it, and this product is especially interesting for those who supply products to supermarket chains. The main reason is high quality parameters, high-quality packaging and product appearance. Also, Turkmen greenhouse tomatoes have a visual advantage over Uzbek ones in the form of a green twig, which is very popular with buyers and guarantees good sales,” Bakhtiyor Abduvokhidov, FAO international consultant says.

He also notes that greenhouse tomatoes from Turkmenistan successfully compete in the Tajik market not only with greenhouse products from Uzbekistan, but also with local tomatoes from open ground. Prices for Turkmen greenhouse tomatoes in wholesale trade are $0.65 per kg, and for local ones from open ground - $0.55 per kg. But the Turkmen tomato sells better and faster, despite the fact that it costs more.

The EastFruit project is supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and EU4Business.

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Photo: east-fruit.com