Macedonian Economy | Македонска економија

[bgrs]

Hm, Montupet has a factory in my hometown. I can post some pics if I find them. AFAIK they pay good salaries and organize courses in France for all their new employees.

[vardar]

Well the investment isnt confirmed just yet as i said today they are supposed to sign something in paris but considering we are in the middle of an election campaign i dont entirely trust all these announcements.
BTW they first mentioned this investment a week or so ago and said that the company (they didnt name it then only that it was french) was thinking between macedonia and one of the neighbouring countries so it could be you guys, which seems logical considering as you said you already have a factory of theirs

[bgrs]

If it is a French company and it deals with aluminium details for automobiles then it's certainly Montupet. However I don't think they are to choose between Bulgaria and Macedonia, their factory here became already operational last year and they are still building additional facilities, so why would build another one here, that's weird.

BTW it seems the Macedonian factory will be larger than our in Ruse, we will have 900 employees till the end of 2010, while yours will have 1000. The construction was cheaper too, it cost only 35 million EUR as compared to 60 mln in Macedonia. Despite as a class A investment, the state built their road/pipe/electricity infrastructure for free.

[dewrob]

If Iskra and Montupet investments go along as they should than Bunardzik is definitely on the right track and Skopje is bound to get yet another industrial zone. It is much easier to attract companies in an up and running industrial zone than it was to drag in Johnson Controls which was the icebreaker for Bunardzik.

[vardar]

Originally Posted by bgrs

If it is a French company and it deals with aluminium details for automobiles then it's certainly Montupet. However I don't think they are to choose between Bulgaria and Macedonia, their factory here became already operational last year and they are still building additional facilities, so why would build another one here, that's weird.

BTW it seems the Macedonian factory will be larger than our in Ruse, we will have 900 employees till the end of 2010, while yours will have 1000. The construction was cheaper too, it cost only 35 million EUR as compared to 60 mln in Macedonia. Despite as a class A investment, the state built their road/pipe/electricity infrastructure for free.

They wouldnt need to build a new factory just expand the existing one which makes more sence than starting completely from scratch, anyway if this happens it will be roughly the same size. It is montupet they revealed that yesterday i think.

[vardar]

Originally Posted by dewrob

If Iskra and Montupet investments go along as they should than Bunardzik is definitely on the right track and Skopje is bound to get yet another industrial zone. It is much easier to attract companies in an up and running industrial zone than it was to drag in Johnson Controls which was the icebreaker for Bunardzik.

Yeah it seems the first one is the hardest but lets wait and see what happens. What i really like about the investments is that they are all greenfield, something we havent had too much of.

[dewrob]

Originally Posted by vardar

Yeah it seems the first one is the hardest but lets wait and see what happens. What i really like about the investments is that they are all greenfield, something we havent had too much of.

and not just that, I like the structure of the investments... It's not real estate (which I have nothing against) or some funky ass textile factory but nice production facilities.

[vardar]

Very good point malls and apartments are all the rage in EE (and to some degree rightly so) but production facilities are needed just as much if not more, and not only will they offer several thousand jobs (if all plans go ahead) but they will export all their products and likely attract more companies from within the industry.

[dewrob]

Originally Posted by vardar

Very good point malls and apartments are all the rage in EE (and to some degree rightly so) but production facilities are needed just as much if not more, and not only will they offer several thousand jobs (if all plans go ahead) but they will export all their products and likely attract more companies from within the industry.

real estate, malls and stuff will come along naturally if there is good economic basis. I see the production facilities as such.

[vardar]

Well i dont think we have a shortage of malls as much as weve had an absence of these sorts of greeenfield investments. With the malls the only thing you could say is that the big global names are not present but rather the regional ones, but the regionals are likely to be taken over eventualy anyway so.....

[dewrob]

Originally Posted by vardar

Well i dont think we have a shortage of malls as much as weve had an absence of these sorts of greeenfield investments. With the malls the only thing you could say is that the big global names are not present but rather the regional ones, but the regionals are likely to be taken over eventualy anyway so.....

I disagree there is lots of space for retail expansion from domestic, regional and global chains in Macedonia

2 main criteria that prevent more aggressive approach on their behalf IMO

- mentioned million times cadastre/land property issues
- small market! logistics is very important component for big chains and Skopje is truly the only valuable market in the country. It's a question of feasibility if setting up a big logistic network is worth it only for Skopje

[bgrs]

ПАРИЗ - До крајот на годинава во слободната економска зона „Бунарџик“ ќе стартува изградбата на фабрика за автоделови во вредност од 60 милиони евра. Фабриката ќе биде директна инвестиција на француската компанија „Монтипе“, која има свои фабрики и во Мексико, Северна Ирска, Канада, Шпанија и Франција, а од годинава и во Бугарија.

Во фабриката во Македонија ќе се произведуваат алуминумски глави за мотори за „форд“, а ќе се извезуваат главно во Англија и во Романија. Меморандумот за разбирање за изградба на фабриката во седиштето на „Монтипе“ во Лењевил вчера го потпишаа премиерот Никола Груевски и извршниот директор на компанијата, Марк Мајус. Груевски пред потпишувањето имаше средба и со претседателот на компанијата, Стефан Менјан, а подоцна разгледа и дел од производствените погони на компанијата. За инвестицијата тој рече дека ќе создаде директно вработување на околу 650 луѓе, а за три до четири години и до 1.000 со вкупна инвестициона вредност од 100 милиони евра. „Ова е добра инвестиција, бидејќи ќе апсорбира значаен дел од слободната работна сила од Македонија“, рече Груевски. Според него, инвестицијата што треба со комерцијална продажба да стартува во 2010 година, годишно е предвидено да остварува приход од 70 до 100 милиони евра, а за пет години на Македонија да и' донесе додадена вредност од 200 милиони евра.

Извршниот директор на „Монтипе“, Мајус, рече дека некои од клучните услови поради кои се решиле да инвестираат во Македонија е тоа што постои даночно олеснување, едукација на високостручни кадри на скопскиот Универзитет, непосредната близина на аеродромот „Александар Велики“ до „Бунарџик“, но и близината на Македонија до Бугарија, каде што компанијата веќе има своја фабрика во Русе. Првичната идеја била да се гради фабрика во Романија, но поради одливот на работна сила од таа земја, компанијата се решила да ја пренасочи инвестицијата во Македонија, каде што условите за инвестирање биле слични и од каде, исто така, може лесно да се овозможи поддршка од фабриката во Бугарија.

Груевски посочи дека компанијата работи врз принцип на висока технологија и поради тоа има мала конкуренција во светот на автомобилската индустрија. „Монтипе“ вработува 4.000 луѓе и има продажба од околу 460 милиони евра. Изработува делови за речиси сите поголеми светски автомобилски компании. Покрај алуминиумски глави за мотори, компанијата произведува и автомобилски гуми, сигурносни уреди, главни цилиндри и други автоделови.

So they start the construction this year. Expect this soon

[dewrob]

the article says the Skopje factory will be complementary with the Ruse one. What excately does the Ruse one produce?

[bgrs]

The same - mostly engine details as well as some other aluminium parts (cylinders,etc).

[dewrob]

Here are a few shots of the new industrial zone Bunardzik where Montupet will be located.

1 The layout of the zone

2 The zone

3 Next to the airport and the railway...

4 ...and the highway

5 The terrain is mostly in preparatory stage (leveling, infrastructure, roads, installations etc)

6 Johnson Controls factory is operational

7 Some other unknown object U/C with the OKTA oil refinery in the background (outside the zone)

8 Also outside the zone but in the same new industrial complex and also recent greenfields. Swedemilk dairy plant...

9 and Makpetrol biodiesel refinery


After that (en route to Skopje) there is a layer of small-mid sized plants connecting the new industrial zones (and the OKTA refinery which was always somehow on the side) with some of the older industrial parks.

[bgrs]

How large is the zone BTW? Montupet here is located in something very similar, an industrial park, the only thing is that it's not a tax-free zone.

[dewrob]

140ha but they have plans (and space) to double it. Here is another plan I found with the non tax free zone included (on the far left). That is the place where Swedmilk is located and also Hungarian Fornetti is building a factory there now.

[bgrs]

Fornetti has factories? I thought they sell freshly baked ones. LIERS!

[dewrob]

Originally Posted by bgrs

Fornetti has factories? I thought they sell freshly baked ones. LIERS!

that's what they say they sell in their stores here is well. Obviously, as you can see the web site, they got a shitload of factories all over the place

[vardar]

Hey nice visual roundup with the zone dewrob

Not that im complaining or an expert but their investment strategy seems a bit strange....why would they build a new factory in bulgaria and then straight away a factory in macedonia, it just seems like an unnecessary duplication anyway so long as it gets built im not complaining.

BTW bgrs is the bulgarian factory completed??