Bee Vectoring Technologies to accelerate entry into Turkish crop protection market with key partnership Memorandum of Understanding

Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (the ″Company″ or ″BVT″) (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE:BEE) announced that the Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (″MOU″) with Bioglobal A.S. (″Bioglobal″) in Turkey to accelerate BVT’s entry into the region, with an option to further expand into adjacent countries.

Established in 2000, Bioglobal is a leading distributor of plant protection and plant nutrition products in Turkey, the Middle East and the Caucasus. Bioglobal has a long history of providing quality products and have well-established relationships with the region’s growing community.

″BVT aligns perfectly to Bioglobal’s core goal of providing sustainable and environmentally-friendly biological products to the agricultural marketplace,″ said A. Özgür Ateş, General Manager of Bioglobal. ″Pesticide residue poses a barrier to Turkish produce exports. Fortunately, BVT’s biological fungicide, which reduces traditional chemical use, provides disease control and improves crop yield, is a scalable long-term solution – enhancing the overall export value.″

Bioglobal will move forward on registration trials of BVT’s proprietary Clonostachys rosea CR-7 (CR-7) biological fungicide with Turkish authorities – these are official research trials that are a required part of regulatory submission. If successful, the two companies will work towards a commercial agreement to market and distribute BVT’s natural precision agriculture system to growers across the region.

″Turkey is an important producer of agricultural products, and bee pollination plays a vital role in Turkish agriculture with an estimated 300,000 bumble bee hives⁽¹⁾ sold in the country annually,″ said Christoph Lehnen, BVT Business Manager for Europe, Africa and Middle East. ″Eastern European countries are major importers of Turkish produce. Therefore, our immediate market focus in Turkey will be to target strawberry and tomato growers, with plans to expand into oilseed such as rapeseed (canola), and other berries and vegetables. BVT products registered in the USA have been awarded a zero-residue rating, which will greatly assist in selling and marketing BVT in Turkey.″

Turkish growers produced 440,968 metric tonnes of strawberries in 2018, while utilizing 16,102 hectares of farmland.⁽²⁾ The country is ranked fourth globally in strawberry production, behind China, the US and Mexico.⁽³⁾ The strawberry growing season in Turkey is long, with harvest starting in November and continuing into July.

Turkey is also fourth largest in the world in tomato production and is a leading exporter of the crop, with 12.2 million metric tonnes in 2018 using 176,430 hectares⁽⁴⁾ of farmland. The companies will initially focus on greenhouse tomato production, where there is a serious need to address disease control, as the closed environment hinders the use of traditional spray chemicals.

″Greenhouse production represents a major market in Turkey, with a total of 77,000 hectares⁽⁵⁾,″ said Mr. Lehnen. ″48% of the greenhouses are used to grow tomatoes, with a high utilization of bumble bees. This means what we’ve submitted for research approval represents a significant revenue opportunity for BVT.″

″This milestone represents another step in what we have reiterated about BVT’s overall strategic plan: with the expertise we have gained through increasing adoption of our technology in the US, we are now pursuing geographic expansions to open new, diversified revenue streams,″ said Ashish Malik, CEO of BVT. ″Turkey is an important market for the crops we are focused on, and being a big exporter of these crops, growers there are looking for more consumer-friendly and environmentally sustainable solutions. We are pleased with the partnership we are building with Bioglobal – they are experts in the Turkish market and their focus is with sustainable biological solutions.″

Through Bioglobal, the work required to commercialize and sell BVT’s natural precision agriculture system in Turkey has already begun. BVT’s product was submitted to the Turkish authorities for official trial research approval earlier this year, and once approved, trials will commence shortly. BVT’s strategy is to continue to develop relationships with established partners in key markets to accelerate growth and broaden customer reach.

For more information on Bioglobal, visit their website at https://www.bioglobal.com.tr.

⁽¹⁾ Source: BVT estimate
⁽²⁾ Source: FAOSTAT, 2018
⁽³⁾ Source: NationMaster.com
⁽⁴⁾ Source: FAOSTAT, 2018
⁽⁵⁾ Source: A Haber, 2019

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Contact: Joyce Wang (joyce@agropages.com)