OREANDA-NEWS. April 4, 2011. Yuri Kancher, First Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia, has visited the Yagoda Karelii (Berry of Karelia) factory for deep processing of wild berries that is under construction near Petrozavodsk.

The enterprise will be unique both for Karelia, and for Russia. It will produce jams, preserves and confitures made of wild and garden berries, as well as toppings, flavours, precooked fruit and berry mass widely used in dairy and confectionery industry at production of ice-cream and juices, and mashed potatoes. Currently, up to 75% of such products is imported to our country from abroad. Investments within the project make 674 million roubles, including a credit of 506 million roubles issued by Rosselkhozbank, Ltd.

According to the director general of the Berry of Karelia company Eduard Krul, equipment installation is currently on the agenda. He has also thanked the Government of Karelia for support in solution of various questions that occured at different stages of construction. As Mr Krul said, start-up of the factory is scheduled for May-June of this year.

The factory is fitted up with the most-up-to-date equipme made in Italy and running ecological and non-waste technology. This equipment is unique for keeping all useful properties of berries and fruit. Special emphasis in production will be put on raw materials of wild berries: cranberries, bilberries and cowberries.

Today the factory located in the industrial warehouse zone of Tomitsy has 70 new jobs created. When it attains its projected capacity which is 44 tons of product yield a day, the number of employees will make more than 160 people.