The Guardian to Publish the Article about Export of Fir Cones Seeds from Ambrolauri to Europe

Winter is the season when the Ambrolauri forest, high in Georgia’s northern mountains, gets filled with people, all in search of the same thing: fir cones – or more specifically, the seeds hidden inside.

"In Georgia’s northern mountains, workers scale daunting heights in search of the fir cones seeds that produce Europe’s favourite Christmas tree. But while foreign importers line their pockets, the climbers hazard all for a pittance", The Guardian writes.

These seeds, once shipped and planted in European soil, will produce Europe’s favourite Christmas tree, the tall and gracious Nordmann fir.

Each season, Lasha Sopromadze, who is "seed seeker" and who wears a T-shirt despite the cold wind, earns between 1,000 and 2,000 lari (£262 and £524). The price per kilo varies from year to year, from one to two lari – a fraction of the price for a full-grown tree in Europe.

“The foreign companies earn most from this. We just have the cones, no factories or plantations,” says Violeta Katsitadze, from Tlugi.

About the risks of climbing and fatal results and more detailed information about exporting the seeds, The Guardian writes in the article.