“Pantomarket Stočar” expands its meat and dairy export capacity

Belgrade, Jan. 26, 2010 (Serbia Today) - Čačak-based company “Pantomarket Stočar” invested 1.3m EUR in a new slaughterhouse and a small dairy last year, according to CEO Slavko Đalović, as reported in Politika. Able to process 100 cattle or 150 pigs a day according to HACCAP standards, the new slaughterhouse was built in the location of Čačak`s old slaughterhouse, next to the company’s farm in Mrčajevci. The acquired dairy in Zdravčići near Požega has a daily capacity of 1,000 liters of milk for cheese and ice cream.

In 2009 Pantomarket Stočar exported 8.0m EUR worth of meat to Montenegro and another EUR 0.3m of high quality beef to Italy. With only 77 employees the company ranks second in the value of exports from the Čačak region. The company’s capacity is 1,800 heads of cattle per round. “Last year we grew 3,000 heads of cattle, while 3,600 calves were grown in 2008. Our plan is to reach 5,000 heads of cattle per year,” said Đalović.

Aleva invests up to 7m EUR in new factory

Belgrade, Jan. 25, 2010 (Serbia Today) - People from Novi Kneževac-based food company Aleva announced that between 5 and 7m EUR would be invested in the new factory in that town in 2010.
Aleva's Marketing Director Mirko Asanović said that that company for production of spices and spice pepper had achieved positive result in 2009 and registered bigger turnover than in 2008.
As he pointed out, in addition to the sales in local market and the markets of regional countries, Aleva is also present in Russian Federation (RF) for few yearsnow.
“The company signed the contract on export worth about 8m EUR with Moscow-based national distributor RKK at the end of the last year - said Asanović and added that the company from Novi Knjaževac exported cayenne pepper, spice and food additive "kulinat" and soups to that market..” Aleva is the only manufacturer of instant soups in Serbia. These soups are easy to prepare and they satisfy the needs of a modern fast-living man” - said the people from the company. The company was successfully privatized in 2005 and it is now a part of Flory Trading Group, which also owns factory for production of instant baby food Flory in Kruševac. Baby food from Kruševac is exported to Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Algeria and Libya, and export of these products to Russia and Ukraine is in the pipeline.

Trošarina closer to realization

Belgrade, Jan. 24, 2010 (Serbia Today) - The “Verano Group” is now obtaining permits and approvals for the reconstruction and upgrading of “TC Trošarina” in Belgrade, it is reported in eKapija (Jan 14 and 19, 2010). Located on 5.18 ha between Vojvode Stepe Boulevard and the settlement Banjica, the multiuse development will consist of 73,000 m2 within three underground levels, a ground floor and two upper floors. Completion of the project is expected to take two to three years.

World Bank warns Serbia about loans

Belgrade, Jan. 21, 2010, (Serbia Today) - Serbia should make better use of approved loans or risk having the money reduced or given to someone else, said Simon Grey, head of the World Bank‘s Belgrade office, in an interview with Blic reported January 18, 2010.

“Definitely there is a problem. There are some signs of improvement, but (we) can not say everything is fine regarding the withdrawal of approved loans.” As specific examples Grey pointed to loans for irrigation and drainage and the central registry for pensions. He also said that for the year 2010 the World Bank will not approve any (new) investment loan to Serbia except for USD 200m to support to the budget.

“I do not know whether you can call (reducing the loan or giving it to someone else) a penalty, but it will be one of the options if the situation does not improve.” the Head of the World Bank's Office in Serbia warned. “Therefore in April Director of the World Bank for South-East Europe Jane Armitage is coming back to Serbia to look at hoe money is spent on approved projects.”

Investors interested in Negotin wind park

Negotin, Jan. 21, 2010 (Serbia Today) - The possibility of a wind park in the municipality of Negotin has interested several potential investors. Representatives of “Solar Wind Energy“ have spoken with the President Municipal Temporary Organ, Ljubiša Đorđević, about installing their measuring poles on Popadija to assess the feasibility of a wind farm with a capacity of 45 MW, and have indicated that a letter of intent will soon be sent. Also representatives of the Austrian company “Pricon Business Creation“ have made presentations to local officials about their wind farms in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. The company says it is interested in building a wind farm with ten 2 MW turbines within the municipality of Negotin in next year. The general position of Negotin's local self-government is a willingness to provide maximum assistance to all who want to invest in the municipality of Negotin.

Telenor" bids for new fixed landline telephone license

Belgrade, Jan. 16, 2010, (Serbia Today) - "Telenor Srbija" was the only company to submit a bid for a license to become the second landline telephone operator in Serbia, the Republic Telecommunications Agency (Ratel) announced on January 12, 2010
The Minister of Telecommunications of Serbia, Jasna Matić, expects the tender will be successful and that the offer of "Telenor" will be suitable. All the necessary documentation was submitted and the financial bid will be opened prior to January 18th. The Minister said that if the bid of "Telenor" is inappropriate, the tender's weakness would be analyzed and the selection procedure would be repeated. “The aim of the tender is to enable citizens to select the least expensive package of combined mobile and fixed telephone and internet services,“ said Matić. He noted that the new draft law anticipated the complete liberalization of the telecommunications services market in Serbia by the end of 2011.
The representative of "Telenor", Goran Vasić, said that if "Telenor" got the license for landline telephone services, it would start providing services within one year. The goal was to offer subscribers a single internet, mobile and fixed landline service. “’Telenor’ is willing to resume investments in development of telecommunications in Serbia and offer new, better and more modern services,” he told the press. Vasić did not want to speak at this point in the tender process about the prices that "Telenor" would offer, but he point out that the fixed telephony market in Serbia was the cheapest in the region and in Europe. He also said that Telenor" would invest in development of its own telecommunication infrastructure, although part of it would have to be rented.

Documentation for participation in the tender was also purchased by "Vip Mobile", by the Serbian-American group "Konsing" and by Cypriot "Kerseyco Trading Limited", but they declined to submit bids. The new license is intended to end the monopoly on fixed landline telephone services now enjoyed by the state-owned company "Telekom Srbije."

Reservoir Capital" studying feasibility of new hydroelectric plants

Belgrade, Jan. 12, 2010, (Serbia Today) - The Canadian company "Reservoir Capital" is performing feasibility studies for the construction of two new hydroelectric plants on the Lim River near Prijepolje, as reported by “Beta“.
The run-of-river power stations “Brodarevo 1" and "Brodarevo 2" would produce a total of 48 MW of power and cost an estimated 150m USD. Data from numerous geophysical, hydrological and ecological tests will be analyzed by economists and energy experts.
If the studies are positive, documentation and financing for the plants will be undertaken this year. The CEO of "Reservoir Capital", Miljana Vidović, told "Beta" that the company was currently competing for several hydropower projects in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Michelin sole owner of "Tigar Tires" factory

Pirot, Jan. 06, 2010 (Serbia Today) - The French company Michelin became the sole owner of the car tire factory "Tigar Tires" in mid-December 2009 by paying the last installment of the purchase price to “Tigar.” According to Dragan Nikolić, CEO of "Tigar", as reported by Beta News Agency, "Tigar" decided three years ago to sell its share in the Pirot-based factory because of global trends in the automobile industry and because it was impossible to keep the pace with Michelin in making new investments in the joint venture.
Nikolić pointed out that the factory has the same number of workers, 2,500, as it did when "Tigar" decided to sell the business. The workers have obtained a "safe sanctuary", and management is working as successfully as always.

SIEPA expects investments of 2 billion EUR in 2010

Belgrade, Dec. 29, 2009 (Serbia Today) - Foreign investment in Serbia in 2010 may reach 2 billion EUR, mostly from suppliers of car parts for "Fiat", said Vesna Perić, CEO of the Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA) as reported by Beta Press Agency .
“Serbia needs between 3 and 4 billion EUR, but achieving 2 billion EUR worth of investments would be a very good result as well” - Ms. Perić said. According to her, there are many electronic and metal /plastic processing companies, suppliers of "Fiat", that will invest in Serbia in 2010. It was good, she said, that none of the investors had given up in 2009, but had waited to assess global demand in 2010 and 2011.
SIEPA's plan for 2010 is to focus on exporting domestic finished products to the former Soviet Union and North Africa. The Western European market is significant for semi-finished products because it is the region where Serbian companies have enough space to be competitive and become suppliers.
Perić also said that SIEPA would obtain 306m RSD from the budget for the year 2010. “We are satisfied with the fact that we are going to receive more than we got the last year (240m RSD) because the Government has recognized the need for larger funds for the growth of export and foreign investments” . The funds will be spent on organizing more trade fairs and on more market research. SIEPA has the program for internationalization of companies, according to which it covers 50% of costs for introduction of certificates, re-certification, standardization and other marketing activities that are necessary for export - said Perić and invited companies to apply for the program.
She said that Serbian companies signed contract worth 30m EUR at the trade fairs in foreign countries in 2009. Perić estimated that it was very good that Serbia had attracted 2 billion USD worth of foreign investments in the year of the financial crisis, the same as in 2008.

RTB "Bor" and "Glencore" to open gold mine

Belgrade, Dec. 31, 2009 (Source: eKapija) - Mining-Smelter Basin (RTB) "Bor" and multinational company "Glencore", one of the world's most powerful mining corporations, will start the business of activation and exploitation of gold mine "Čoka Marina 1", near Majdanpek.
This was confirmed for "Novosti" by Blagoje Spaskovski, the Director General of RTB "Bor".

- In agreement with the representatives of "Glencore", following the activation and commencement of exploitation, the concentrate from "Čoka Marina 1" will be melted in their smelter in Kazakhstan - Spaskovski explains.

- That is because mine "Čoka Marina 1" is rich with gold, silver and copper, as well as lead, zinc and cadmium. Therefore, that raw material can not be melted in the smelter in Bor since we do not have the technology to prevent serious environment pollution, which would be the result of melting of that concentrate in Bor-based smelter.

"Čoka Marina 1" has the verified reserves of about 240,000 tons of ore, about 4.4% of which is copper, 14 g per ton is gold, and nearly 100 g per ton is silver. Let us just say that the deposits with 1% of copper and 2 g of gold per ton are considered as exceptionally rich.

- Exploitation of "Čoka Marina 1" will bring as the net profit of about 28m USD - Spaskovski points out.
By the way, this mine was discovered in 1981, but it has not been exploited to the date because there has been no appropriate technology for melting the concentrate from that deposit.