Uzbekistan startup builds tomato supply chain for domestic market and export

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Uzbek agri project Dalatek is restructuring its model around a tomato supply cooperative for the domestic market and export. According to co-founder and CEO Dildora Atadzhanova, the project is now working with three government institutions in a consulting role to launch a tomato supply chain. The model brings together small, medium and large tomato growers under one legal entity and one bank account, with a shared strategy for sales in Uzbekistan and abroad.

The project is also working on insurance products for cooperative members and on banking tools, including factoring and procurement financing. Another focus is storage infrastructure. Atadzhanova said Uzbekistan has many cold storage facilities, but leasing is often informal and done without contracts. As part of the pilot, Dalatek is checking and standardizing cold storage capacity to guarantee storage quality.

At this stage, growers have already been selected, insurance products and banking solutions are partly ready, and cold storage sites are under inspection. The aim is to create a closed supply chain that can move produce consistently from farms to supermarkets, restaurants and foreign buyers.

Initially, the company planned to export around 500 tons of produce over three months. However, it found that one supermarket chain in Uzbekistan alone needs 60 tons of tomatoes per day. Dalatek has already signed a contract with the country’s largest supermarket chain, according to Atadzhanova, and has also seen interest from companies in Russia and Japan.

The company said it plans to earn a percentage from transactions. According to Atadzhanova, a shipment of 20 tons represents turnover of $40,000. The project is targeting supply volumes in the hundreds and thousands of tons for export.

Atadzhanova said around $170,000-$200,000 has been invested in Dalatek, mostly in the first two years, with average monthly funding of $5,000-$10,000. She also said the business can operate without a mobile app at this stage, with the current priority focused on building one stable operating model first.

Source: digitalbusiness.kz

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