Zeraim Gedera is expanding its activities in Turkey.

The Company’s activities in Turkey were hard hit during the economic crisis, which badly affected the Turkish economy during 2001 – 2003, but the Company has succeeded in rehabilitating and even considerably expanding activities after signing a marketing and distribution cooperation agreement with the Toros Company (part of the ‘Tekfen’ group), which specializes in the marketing of agricultural inputs. Today, the Toros Company’s most important activity is the marketing of Zeraim Gedera’s vegetable seeds.

Ohad Zuckerman, CEO at Zeraim Gedera said that at present, the Turkish Company runs an organization that includes 26 agricultural experts working all over Turkey to market tomato, pepper, cucumber, watermelon and melon seeds. In 2005, Zeraim Gedera’s turnover in Turkey will reach $5 million and the Company intends to expand this turnover by at least 15% in 2006.

The Turkish market is flourishing and most of the crops harvested in this country are destined for local consumption. The Zeraim Gedera CEO added that Turkey, as a country with a population of some 70 million people eating fresh salads at every daily meal, is one of the largest per capita consumers of vegetables in the world.

To expand its activities and ensure continuing growth in this market, Zeraim Gedera and Toros have made a joint investment of some $1 million in the establishment of an advanced R&D facility, which will be involved in variety breeding and adaptation, along with close cooperation with the supermarket chains to develop varieties adapted to Turkish consumers’ particular tastes and preferences