ST.-PETERSBURG, July 5 - RAPSI. The St. Petersburg and Leningrad Regional Commercial Court will hear applications filed by the JFC Group's creditors on September 10 to enter $559.09 million in debt into the list of creditors. The JFC Group is the parent company of Russia's largest fruit importer JFC.

Two applications filed by Sberbank worth 4.517 billion rubles ($139.09 million) and 1.551 billion rubles ($47.76million) will be considered, as will two applications filed by Raiffeisenbank worth 908.66 million rubles ($27.98 million) and 446.27 million rubles ($13.74 million). Several major organizations have also demanded that JFC's debts be entered into the register, including the Bank of Moscow with 4.493 billion ruble ($138.3million) in claims, Uralsib bank with 1.51 billion rubles ($46.49 million) in claims, Bank Saint Petersburg with 1.28 billion rubles ($39.41 million) in claims, Amsterdam Trade Bank with 743.78 million rubles ($22.62 million) in claims, ОТР Bank Plc with 297.5 million rubles ($9.16 million) in claims, UniCreditBank with 446 million rubles ($13.73 million) in claims and Rosbank with 240.4 million rubles ($7.40 million) in claims.

The St. Petersburg Commercial Court placed the group's head company into administration in March.

According to JFC's February reports, it was necessary to implement a credit watch to protect creditors' interests and to allow the company to continue its operations.JFC's financial difficulties supposedly began amid global market troubles attributed to the effects of the Arab Spring, which forced many agricultural produce distributors into bankruptcy.

JFC General Director Vladimir Kekhman said earlier that he is working to resolve the company's financial problems and he will draw up a new business plan in about three months.

Established in St. Petersburg in 1994, the JFC Group comprises fruit production, procurement, storage, distribution and sales companies. It has 3,000 hectares of banana plantations in Ecuador and Costa Rica. JFC runs offices in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other Russian cities, as well as in Cyprus, Ecuador and Costa Rica. It has 3,600 personnel. JFC is engaged in fruit sales in Europe, the Middle East and the CIS.