Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- German organic baby food maker HiPP GmbH & Co. Vertrieb KG began production of fruit concentrate at a plant in Georgia near the border with the separatist South Ossetia region, the focus of a war with Russia last year.

“We’re buying apples from local farmers and making fruit concentrate to send to Germany,” Archil Zhvania, general director of HiPP Georgia, said by telephone today from the town of Agara. “We estimate production of about 400 metric tons of concentrate a day in the future.”

HiPP, based in Pfaffenhofen, Germany, has invested $8 million in the facility, which employs 150 people, Zhvania said.

Georgia’s U.S.-trained army was routed by Russia in a five- day war in August 2008 over South Ossetia. Russia later recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent countries and agreed to defend their borders.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili attended an opening ceremony in Agara today, his spokeswoman Marika Verulashvili said by telephone in the capital Tbilisi.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helena Bedwell in Tbilisi at hbedwell@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2009 06:58 EST