Mississauga, Ontario and Sacramento, California--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2022) - Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc. (CSE: BEE) (OTCQB: BEVVF) (CVE: BEE) (the "Company" or "BVT") is pleased to announce 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 Ates, 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
About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
BVT, an agriculture technology company, is a market disruptor with a significant global market opportunity in the $240 billion crop protection and fertilizer market. BVT has pioneered a natural precision agriculture system that replaces chemical pesticides and wasteful plant protection product spray applications by delivering biological pesticide alternatives to crops using commercially grown bees. BVT's award-winning technology, precision vectoring, is completely harmless to bees and allows minute amounts of naturally-derived pesticides (called biologicals) to be delivered directly to blooms, providing improved crop protection and yield results than traditional chemical pesticides - and improving the health of the soil, the microbiome and the environment. Currently, BVT has over 65 granted patents, over 35 patents pending in all major agricultural countries worldwide and has US EPA registration of its Vectorite with CR-7 (EPA Registration No. 90641-2) for sale as a registered biological fungicide for use on the labeled crops.
Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com. To receive regular news updates from the Company, subscribe at www.beevt.com/newsletter.
Company Contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
info@beevt.com
Investor Contact:
Babak Pedram, Investor Relations
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com
The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, "annual revenue potential", are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's Filing Statement dated August 14,2020, filed with the CSE and securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/130670
