Rural Juice Maker Boosts Exports
USAID’s Azerbaijan Agribusiness Center (AAC) Specialist Mirnail Mirsalahov was recently contacted by a rural beverage producer for help with entering the international health juice market. Mirsalahov visited the former State-owned facility which had been privatized in 2004 and quickly assessed its key challenges: insufficient demand had resulted in product stockpiles in its warehouse and the lack of a marketing strategy indicated that there was no plan in place to attract new buyers.
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| USAID’s Azerbaijan Agribusiness Center helped this struggling wild fruit juice producer gain exposure to international markets and win lucrative accounts |
To expose the client to an audience of potential buyers, Mirsalahov took product samples to the Inter-Food Baku 2006 trade fair, which generated interest among, and offers from, buyers. The client was also added to an informational tour of local juice producers being put together by AAC Account Manager Anar Azimzadeh for a representative from Canada’s Azpom Inc. & Roscaz Co. The buyer was interested and asked for samples; the AAC began working to export its client’s juice to Canada.
Working with the client, the AAC team redesigned product labels and packaging to meet Canadian market and import standards and helped secure required export documentation to clear Azerbaijan’s Customs Department. In October 2006, 12,000 bottles of hawthorn juice were shipped to Canada for $8,400.
Since then, the team has been working with the client to close another export deal for its hawthorn juice product and ensure that the production facilities are able to ramp up production without sacrificing quality.
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