Eden Research PLC says commercial collaborator, Eastman Chemical Company has

() has announced that its commercial collaborator,  has received authorisation for the sale of its Cedroz product in France.

The AIM-quoted company, which is focused on sustainable biopesticides and plastic-free formulation technology for use in the global crop protection, animal health and consumer products industries, said the French regulator has also approved Eden’s biofungicide, Mevalone, for use in organic agriculture in France.

Separately, the group added, it has been notified that Mevalone has received authorisation for use on table and wine grapes in Serbia via regional distributor K&N Efthymiadis (KNE).

READ: Eden Research says patent behind its Sustaine encapsulation technology has been granted in Australia

The approval of Cedroz in France covers both indoor and outdoor uses on strawberries, tomatoes, aubergines, physalis, pepinos, cucumbers, courgettes, gherkins (and other edible peel cucurbits), peppers (all varieties), chillies, melons, watermelons, and pumpkins (and other non-edible peel cucurbits).

Cedroz is a bionematicide based on terpene active ingredients encapsulated in Eden’s patented Sustaine technology. Both of Eden’s commercially available products have now been authorised in France, following the approval for the use of Mevalone on grapes in 2017.

The combined fruit, vegetable and horticultural sector in France has an annual output of over €8 billion, excluding potatoes and wine grapes, Eden noted, highlighting the significance of the market for the group. Melons, which are included in this approval, are the second most plentiful fruit in the country with 250,000 tonnes grown each year.  

The demand for Cedroz stems from it being residue-free with a zero-day pre-harvest interval, which allows for applications right up to harvest, Eden said These characteristics, combined with regulatory changes that have limited the availability of traditional nematicides, position Cedroz well for inclusion in French growers’ crop protection programmes, helping them to meet consumer demand for quality produce, free from chemical residues.

Mevalone approval also timely

The organic approval of Mevalone is also timely as the French organic farming industry is on the rise, increasing from around 580,000 hectares in 2008 to over 2 million hectares in 2018.

Now that Mevalone can be used on organic farms it increases the addressable market for the product. Eden’s three EU-registered active ingredients, geraniol, eugenol and thymol, received approval for use in organic farming in the EU in January of this year.

Eden has also received authorisation for the sale of Mevalone in Serbia via regional distributor KNE. Serbia has a growing winemaking industry, with the export value of wine and grape-based spirits doubling to €17mln between 2006 and 2017. Serbia becomes the 13th country to authorise Mevalone, which already includes the top three wine-producing countries in the world; Italy, France and Spain.

The group noted that there is an opportunity for additional growth in other EU countries when organic approval for Cedroz and Mevalone as full formulations is granted. The EU has recently proposed that at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land should be farmed organically, and the action plan supporting this change has now reached the public consultation phase.

In a statement, Sean Smith, chief executive officer of Eden, commented: “We are pleased to see Cedroz reach another key European market. In France, our biofungicide, Mevalone, has been used by French grape growers to integrate more sustainable practices into their crop protection programmes and Cedroz will play a similar role for a wider range of fruit and vegetable growers in the market.

“Cedroz has strong momentum with this being its fourth full authorisation in 2020, supporting growers’…