Italian manufacturers of foundry machines invite Serbian companies to "grow together" with them

Manufacturers of foundry machines from Italy are interested in entering into a cooperation with partners from Serbia. This is the conclusion drawn at today's meeting in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, during which 11 Italian manufacturers presented their products and introduced themselves to the representatives of Serbian companies.

Nikolas Sachinopoulos, IMF Group representative for the Balkans, pointed out in a statement for eKapija that his company had already rented an office space in Belgrade. This company currently has no plans to invest in the production. Instead, it is focused exclusively on market expansion.

Nikola Majinski, secretary of the Ferrous and Non-ferrous Metallurgy Association of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, pointed to the significance of that sector in our country, saying that its share in overall exports amounted to 20%, the share in the exchange of goods was 10%, while the share of that sector in the industrial production amounted to 7%.

- We plan to make ID cards of foundries in Serbia in the following period in order to have accurate data on available capacities and situation in this field. At the moment, the association gathers 40 out of about 200 foundries in our country – said Mr. Majinski.

However, as Serbian Foundry Association Chairman Srdjan Markovic pointed out, the domestic foundry industry has old capacities, inappropriate staff, unfavorable credit arrangements, and it is faced with an abundance of cheap imported goods from China.

The annual production of castings in Serbia dropped from 900,000 tonnes in the period prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia to only 90,000 tonnes in 2010, Mr. Markovic added.

Italian equipment may increase domestic capacities since these machines are of top quality. Fabrizio Carmagnini, director of the Italian Association of Manufacturers of Foundry Machines (AMAFOND), said that 80 members of that association registered annual exports worth EUR 700 million.

- I invite Serbian companies to grow together with us. Although Europe annually produces only 12 million tonnes of castings out of the total of 90 million tonnes of castings produced in the world every year, Italian and European products are of the highest quality. Serbian industry also has a big potential for the production of high-quality castings – Mr. Carmagnini concluded.

ICE-Italijanska agencija za spoljnu trgovinu Beograd

Ambasada Italije Srbija

Privredna komora Srbije

Međunarodni monetarni fond-MMF Beograd

ICE

SACE

foundry

foundry industry

SCC

Serbian Chamber of Commerce

Nikolas Sachinopoulos

Nikola Majinski

Ferrous and Non Ferrous Metallurgy Association

ID card

Srdjan Markovic

Serbian Foundry Association

Fabrizio Carmagnini

AMAFOND