FROZEN FRUITS FOR EUROPE

Budim Grad doo is a family-owned company that was established in 1992 and is engaged in purchasing fresh fruits and processing the fruits into high quality frozen fruits, 70-80% or which are exported to Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and other countries. With its 64 full-time employees and a 3,500 tons processing capacity combined with simultaneous storage, the company export 5,000 tons of various types of fruit per year. In Serbia, the company’s most important retail partner is Lidl.

The company has been following a strong European market orientation, obtaining  HACCP and ISO 9001 certification in 2006 and Organic certification 2015 to produce raspberry, blackberry, plum, prune, wild blackberry and elderberries.

Budim Grad has its own 11 ha raspberry and a 12 ha blackberry plantation, making it the regional leader in the production of these berries. 

To reduce the impact of its energy intensive processes on the environment, to increase its competitiveness and improve its power security, the company invested in a solar power plant (SPP), installed on the factory roofs. The SPP has a total installed capacity of 412.2 kWp and is designed to generate around 384.0 MWh of electricity annually. The electricity produced by the solar power plant replaces the energy purchased from the grid, reducing energy costs and corresponding CO2 emissions.

After the successful project verification, Budim Grad received a 15% grant cash-back, funded by the European Union.  With the investment, the company now meets a wide variety of standards, including:

• Directive 2018/2001 EU on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast)
• Directive 2014/35/EU relating to the making available on the market of electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits