Cristim group plans to sell organic milk in two years' time

The Cristim group, with 120 million euros in turnover in the charcuterie industry, controlled by Radu and Cristina Timiș, has set out to sell only organic products through the dairy division in two years’ time, with the shareholders planning to dedicate 400 hectares of farming land to organic agriculture.

“We are in a process of switching from conventional to organic agriculture. This process will continue with the cattle farm and in about two years’ time we will produce and sell only organic milk,” explains Constantin Mirică, manager of EcoFerm, the cattle farm of the Cristim group. EcoFerm has over 500 cattle, with the milk business amounting to 2.6 million euros last year, according to company estimates.

In Europe, Sweden allocates 1.3 million hectares to organic agriculture, Italy 1.1 million hectares, Germany 0.9 million hectares, while Romania allocates only 170,000 hectares, i.e. 1.68% of the total, according to the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland (FiBL). In Romanian stores, one litre of organic milk costs between 5 and 10 lei, while the price of other types of milk ranges between 4 and 7 lei.