Luxor Serbia Consulting, business establishment, investment, trade

20/03/2018

BLOOMBERG: Dinar second-best performing currency in the world over the last 12 months
(Photo: eivanov/shutterstock.com)
Last month, the Serbian dinar touched the strongest level against the euro in more than three years, making it the second-best performing currency in the world over the last 12 months, Bloomberg estimates.

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) surprised with its third unexpected interest-rate cut in seven months on Wednesday, a further reason, Bloomberg estimates, for investor optimism over local-currency bonds that have outperformed all of their regional peers this year.

The New York-based agency says that Serbia is going against the tide of a gradual shift toward policy tightening across most of the continent. The Balkan country has little need for rate hikes any time soon, with inflation slowing to the bottom of the central bank’s target range in February and continued appreciation in the dinar.

– Sentiment is positive toward the bonds – said Stephan Imre, a strategist at Raiffeisen Bank International AG in Vienna who recommends buying the notes.

Inflation slowed dramatically to 1.5 percent last month, half the rate seen in December and a 15-month low.

Weak price pressures will persist for months to come, and inflation will only gradually approach the 3 percent target in the middle of next year, policy makers said in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting.

Serbia’s 10-year notes still offer a yield of 5.88 percent, more than double the rate on Hungarian and Czech securities, Bloomberg says and adds that the former Yugoslav republic is one of few nations in eastern Europe that still offers a positive real yield on short-term investments.

The Executive Board of the NBS cut down the key policy rate from last year's 3,5% to 3.25% at a session held on March 14, 2018.

17/03/2018

Turkish Berteks to double number of employees – Kragujevac makes clothes for Zara, C&A, Stradivarius...
Illustration (Photo: nd3000/shutterstock.com )
The Turkish company Berteks currently employs 160 workers at its facility for the production of female clothing in Kragujevac, RTK reports.

Quality clothing produced in Kragujevac is sent to the EU countries, and the company has secured the delivery to renowned European brands Zara, C&A, Stradivarius...

Berteks has been operating in Kragujevac since April 2017, producing female clothing made of cotton, stretch-velvet, velvet and other materials.

The plan is to soon open a new market in cooperation with the German company Gina Benotti, and the number of employees in Kragujevac will consequently double.

The Turkish company plans to employ around 600 workers in total in Kragujevac and open new markets in the countries of the European Union.

21/02/2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2y-6oN17jE&list=LLFr30aoBNpPXP-LtR431I0A&index=1

Open the Serbian gate which is never locked. Having been the connection between the West and the East for centuries, Serbia was and is a country in which civ...

19/02/2018

Italy’s Caminada to open factory in Subotica in first quarter of 2018
(Photo: Dmitry Kalinovsky/shutterstock.com)
The completion of the construction of the production facility of the Italian investor Caminada at the Industrial Zone Mali Bajmok is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2018, Subotica.com reports.

Caminada is building a factory of injected plastic for the electro-industry of around 2,000 square meters near Subotica.

As Subotica.com reports, this is the first phase of the investment, in which around 50 workers will be employed, whereas an expansion of the capacities (2,000 m2 + 2,000 m2), as well as new employments, should take place in the upcoming period.

Srdjan Samardzic, member of the City Council for Economy, says that around RSD 300 million has been invested in infrastructural equipping of Mali Bajmok since 2010.

The zone features facilities of Siemens, Dunkermotoren, Ametek, Norma Group, Continental-Contitech, Gordon-Calzedonia and Swarovski. Around 6,000 people are currently employed there.

19/02/2018

Mercedes cables to be produced in Kraljevo – Leoni to start building EUR 60 million facility this summer
Illustration (Photo: Paul Laragy/shutterstock.com)
The German company Leoni will start building a cable plant in Kraljevo, where 4,000 to 5,000 workers will be employed, in July or August, the company’s director for Serbia, Clemens Sachs, said on February 14.

According to him, Leoni will invest more than EUR 60 million in the fourth facility in Serbia.

– The plan is for the construction of the facility to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020 – Sachs told the press during his tour of the Nis facility.

The plant in Kraljevo, he added, will have 45,000 square meters and produce cables for Mercedes.

Sachs also said that the facility in Nis would be fully equipped and working at full capacity by the end of the year.

– We employ slightly over 1,000 people in Nis today, and all 2,200 workers we’ve planned will be employed by the end of 2019 – Sachs said and noted that Leoni employed 6,000 workers in its facilities in Prokuplje, Malosiste and Nis at the moment.

Leoni has been present in Serbia since 2009, and Sachs points out that he is very pleased with his employees in Serbia and their results, the cooperation with the state and local self-governments, as well as the National Employment Service.

19/02/2018

Foreign trade of Serbia with Russia amounts to USD 2.5 billion in 2017
(Photo: Provasilich/shutterstock.com)
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic headed the delegation of the Republic of Serbia at the 16th session of the Serbian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee for Trade, Economic and Science-Technical Cooperation, held in Sochi.

Minister Dacic attended the session in the capacity of a co-chairman on the Serbian side, whereas Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin performed the function on the Russian side, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

– It is very positive that our foreign trade increased compared to 2016 to USD 2.5 billion in 2017 – Dacic said.

According to him, the goal is to develop the economic relations as much as possible, in addition to having very good political relations, and to use all the benefits of the Free Trade Agreement and the current negotiations to have the agreement apply to all the members of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Dacic emphasized the very successful cooperation in the fields of energy, agriculture and announced new projects in the fields of economy and industry.

– There’s a traditional friendship and a strategic partnership with the Russian Federation and it is our task to use this as a good foundation for the development of cooperation in all segments of social life – Dacic stated.

12/02/2018

Another attempt at sale of Jagodinska Pivara falls through

The second attempt at the sale of Jagodinska Pivara, which has been in bankruptcy since 2016, has been pronounced unsuccessful. This decision was made as there were no interested purchasers.

The initial price was RSD 355.5 million, that is, EUR 2.9 million, and the most important property of the brewery includes the business complex in Jagodina, that is, 41 facilities within the plant, business and storage facilities in isolated locations in Nis, Krusevac and Pozarevac, the brewery’s equipment and claims.

This was not the first time that Jagodinska Pivara was offered for sale. In late October 2017, an attempt at the sale was cancelled for the same reason – there were no interested purchasers.

Jagodinska Pivara was founded in 1852 and is one of the oldest companies in Serbia.

Before the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, 145 workers were employed at the brewery. All of them applied for voluntary leaving through a social program.

09/02/2018

Gazprom to build Turkish Stream in EU territory in line with EC regulations
Illustration (Photo: Sergey_R/shutterstock.com)
The Turkish Stream pipeline will be built on the EU territory strictly in line with the European Commission regulations, Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, said on Thursday, February 8, 2018.

At his meeting with investors in the company, Medvedev said that the second branch of the land section of the pipeline will be done by gas transport operators of the European states.

As RIA reports, the management of Gazprom has declined to comment on the route of the pipeline.

– As for perspectives and directions of the delivery, the first branch will deliver the gas to Turkey, and the second one to the countries of Southern and Southeastern Europe. At the moment, we will not comment on any further details – said Kirill Polous, Head of Directorate for Long-Term Development Programs of Gazprom.

The Moscow-based daily Kommersant says that, when it comes to the second branch, Gazprom is silent and nothing is clear – neither the directions nor the deadlines.

– There’s an impression that there is no project at all, and Gazprom takes care not to turn attention to the fact that the construction of the second branch of the pipeline to Turkey is already in progress – the daily writes.

Kommersant writes that, on February 13, the management of Gazprom would approve the capital increase of the company South Stream Serbia, a joint company with Srbijagas, founded for the purposes of the construction of the local section of South Stream.

– According to Kommersant’s interviewee, the funds will be used for a roadmap for the expansion of the gas transport structure, which Gazprom signed with Serbia in June 2017. For now, the project is in the stage of structural planning and obtaining permits – the daily says.

Kommersant writes, citing unnamed sources in Gazprom, that the decision on the capital increase of the Serbian structure does not mean that the Balkan route has been definitely chosen for the second branch of the Turkish Stream, instead of deliveries through Greece and further, to South Italy. Still, the daily writes, the Balkan route remains the most likely option, among other things because of the preparations that have been carried out for South Stream and because it will provide a solution to the question of gas deliveries to all Balkans clients, eschewing transit through Ukraine.

09/02/2018

Israel's Madei Taas interested in energy sector in Serbia – Negotiations with potential partners in progress
Illustration
The Israeli company Madei Taas is interested in investing in the Serbian energy sector and is ready to initiate electrical energy projects pertaining to combined production of heating and electrical energy throughout Serbia.

As the Ministry of Mining and Energy announced, the Israeli company has contacted several subjects in the private and the public sectors in several local self-governments, the website of the Government of Serbia reports.

Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Aleksandar Antic met with the delegation of Madei Taas and Ambassador of Israel to Serbia Alona Fisher-Kamm today.

The minister pointed out that all consumers, like the heating plants, industrial facilities in the food, pharmaceutical and heavy industry, were potential projects for investments by the Israeli company.

Antic also pointed out at the meeting that foreign investments were welcome and that Serbia was a safe country for investments. He added that this was an entirely new energy policy of the Government of Serbia, it is reported.

– After more than three decades during which no serious investments were made, this is the best period for the Serbian energy sector in terms of investments – the minister assessed and added that the country had a whole set of projects in that sphere that would bring it energy security in the future and define it as the leader in the region in the field of electrical energy as well.

05/02/2018

Sinvoz Zrenjanin planning construction of new facility – Production for Bombardier worth EUR 30 million
(Photo: branislavpudar/shutterstock)
The Zrenjanin-based rail vehicle repair company Sinvoz plans to build a new facility of around 5,000 square meters in late 2018, where entirely new equipment will be installed, the Zrenjaninski portal reports.

Together with the already adapted 2,500 square meters, this should be enough for the jobs that have already been contracted, but also for those that have been announced.

– We already have longstanding agreements signed with foreign partners, as well as an agreement with a big supplier within the automotive industry – the director of Sinvoz, Radomir Miljus, told Zrenjaninski.

Sinvoz is especially proud of a ten-year agreement with the big, renowned multinational company Bombardier, for which they will be producing cabins and roofs for trains, which are then to be assembled in other factories in Europe. This agreement is worth EUR 30 million.

– The tools necessary for further production are currently being made in our facilities – Miljus points out and adds that the production of components might begin as soon as March and that they also expect the cooperation to expand.

Sinvoz currently has 250 employees, and once the production for Bombardier starts, another 60 workers will be needed – 50 locksmiths and 10 welders.

– Last year, our people underwent training at Bombardier's factory in the Czech Republic and these are the future instructors. It's hard to find educated locksmiths today, and welders are even harder to find. That is why we've prepared an educational facility for welders at our factory. I would like to use this opportunity to invite all the young people who want to do this job, for which there is great demand, and which is also well paid, I'm free to say, to contact us – Miljus says.

05/02/2018

Siemens officially acquires Milanovic Inzenjering

Germany's Siemens has successfully completed the acquisition of the Serbian company Milanovic Inzenjering, the company announced.

As stated in the press release, the institutions in charge of protection of competition have issued an approval and all the requirements for the acquisition of this Kragujevac-based producer of aluminum components for rail vehicle bodies have been successfully met.

– The acquisition of Milanovic Inzenjering is, above all, a benefit for our clients, as well as the strengthening of Siemens' international network of producers in the field of rail industry and our position in Serbia. We are very pleased with the fact that this is Siemens' second factory in Serbia and we are looking forward to a continuation of our successful operations – stated Udo Eichlinger, CEO of Siemens Serbia.

This transaction pertains to the operations of Milanovic Inzenjering with the exception of the water treatment unit. The company was founded in 2001, and its turnover in 2016 amounted to EUR 15.3 million. It currently employs around 430 people.

– Joining the Siemens family is a remarkable opportunity, not just for out team, but for the town of Kragujevac and the entire Sumadija region as well – said Bratislav Milanovic, owner of Milanovic Inzenjering.

05/02/2018

Sırbistan Ticaret ve sanayi Odası üyesi olan, Sırbistan'da tekstil sektöründe faaliyet gösteren ve koruyucu iş güvenliği giysileri ve koruyucu malzemeler üreten bir şirketin, hisselerini satmak istediği ve Türkiye'den ciddi bir yatırımcı aradığı bildirilmiştir. Sırbistan’da 30 yıllık bir geçmişinin bulunduğu belirtilen Şirketin 4 ortağının bulunduğu, alüminize koruyucu giysiler (çelik fabrikaları gibi yüksek sıcaklık koşullarında kullanılan) ve çok normlu giysiler (aynı zamanda birkaç koruyucu fonksiyona sahip giyim eşyası) üreten tek şirket olduğu belirtilmiştir. Başkent Belgrad'a 46 Km uzaklıkta Serbest Bölgede yer alan Şirketin lojistik bakımından çok iyi bir coğrafi konumda bulunduğu belirtilmiştir.