Stevia

Stevia Hellas Cooperative, a Greek company producing products based on extracts of stevia plant, is planning to invest a total of 8 million euros for the creation of a unit to process stevia leaves and produce the final products, company CEO Christos Stamatis told US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt during the latter's brief visit at the cooperative's headquarters in Lamia last week.

Greece's first processing plant for natural sweeteners made of stevia, a plant native to Brazil and Paraguay, is set to open in the central Greek region of Kardista, the ANA-MPA reported on Thursday.

Amid the current economic crisis in Greece, new opportunities arise in the market for entrepreneurs willing to take the risk. But to go up against a global brand name like Coca Cola is quite a challenge. That is exactly what the bottling plant of EPAP in Orestiada in the north east of Greece has done.