Belgian top fruit for food bank

Belgians are bringing top fruit to food banks. The fruit, which would have been removed from the market, is now being given a new destination.

Russia sends new aid convoy to Eastern Ukraine. 

Uzbeki exporters have signed contracts worth millions of dollar during fair.

Depot Margo, a social distribution platform for vegetables, is also going to redistribute top fruit via food banks. The top fruit is being removed from the market as a consequence of the closed Russian borders. The apples and pears are delivered to food banks in Limburg via the distribution platform. The top fruit is picked up by BelOrta Borgloon. On average, Depot Margo distributes 28 tonnes of vegetables and 4 tonnes of fruit per year. The goal is to distribute 50 tonnes of fruit and vegetables next year.

Russia has once again sent an aid convoy to Donbass. It is the 58th time Russia has sent a convoy of emergency aid to the Eastern Ukrainian regions. The 40 lorries carried 400 tonnes of goods to the region. Since August 2014, Russia has sent a total of more than 65,000 tonnes of emergency aid to Eastern Ukraine.

According to the organisation, the fair in Tashkent earlier this month was successful for Uzbeki exporters. Contracts worth one billion dollars were apparently signed, divided over 355 contracts. The country will export 1.4 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables under these contracts. Of the total volume, 32 per cent is vegetables, 17 per cent grapes and 25 per cent is fruit. The other percentage consists of processed fresh produce. Among other things, a contract worth 117 million dollars was signed with a Russian importer. The Russian retailer X5 also signed a contract.