Organization and costs of repurchasing, transportation, warehousing and storage of raspberry fruit

Due to its characteristic, apart from nutritive and medical significance, raspberry is particularly important for our country in social and economic terms, since its export attracts foreign currency inflow. Since the quality of raspberry decreases rapidly after picking, it is utterly important that the whole process, from picking to cold storage of fruit, should be rationally organized, thus finally reducing the costs and increasing the production value. For these reasons precisely the research deals with organization of the entire process, from repurchase to cold storage of raspberry fruits, as well as the analysis of pertaining costs. Necessary information for the preparation of the paper has been obtained from cold storage plants engaged in raspberry storage and preservation. Necessary information has been gathered using several methods, viz: observation, interview and content analysis methods. Furthermore, analysis, comparison and calculation methods have also been used in the preparation of the paper. The raspberry fruit repurchase, transport and storage costs range from 1,6 to 1,8 EUR per kg, exclusive of storage (store-housing). To this one should add store-housing costs ranging from 0,009 to 0,013 EUR per kg on a monthly basis. Modern organization of production and communication between producers, repurchasers, processors and exporters is essential in order to decrease fluctuations in repurchase and sales price of fresh raspberry and its products and the improvement of overall financial effect of all links within the chain of this economy activity. Cold storage plants, even if of minor capacities, are beneficial not only for the immediate participants in the producer-buyer chain, but it also makes an important stimulating factor for rural development and economy of the country.