Sava Kovacevic company opens new dairy in Vrbas - Investment worth 2 million euros

The Vrbas-based agricultural company Sava Kovacevic AD, which operates as part of Mirotin Group, is going to open in early September a new, modern dairy plant and, thus, expand the current processing capacities of its Dana dairy to 30,000 liters a day. For that greenfield investment, the company from the South Banat region will set aside about EUR 2 million. The new dairy plant, which will be spanning 1,800 square meters, will employ 40 people and comprise modern lines for the production of a broad assortment of products - from pasteurized milk to crumbled cheese and fruit yogurts, eKapija learns.

An additional advantage of Dana dairy is that the property it is situated on also hosts a contemporary Holstein-Friesian cattle farm with 750 milk cows. The intention of Mirotin Group is to increase the number of heads of cattle to 1,000 by the year's end, which will then satisfy the needs for about 20,000 liters of milk for daily processing, while the rest will be purchased from other farms.

- The private company Sava Kovacevic owns a dairy plant with the daily processing capacity of 10,000 liters of milk since 1976. Last year the management made the decision on the construction of a new dairy plant and the expansion of processing capacities to 30,000 liters a day, for which the milk from its own farm will be provided on a daily basis. The old dairy plant was torn down and the works on the construction of a state-of-the-art plant in its location commenced three months ago. The new plant will be producing sour pasteurized cream, yogurt made of pasteurized milk, full-fat semi-hard kashkaval cheese, Serbian cheese, crumbled cheese, fruit yogurt – said Srdjan Vujicic, the manager of Sava Kovacevic, adding that the processing capacity of the new dairy would amount to 45,000 liters of milk a day.

The contractor for the construction works on the new dairy plant is GIK Gradjevinar from Backa Palanka.

With the business motto "Quality above all", Dana dairy has managed to enter the markets of Vrbas and neighboring municipalities, as well as highly-demanding market of Novi Sad. With the new plant, the company plans to expand to the market of Subotica as well.

- You can find our products in Roda markets and the stores of market chains Valdi, Gomex, Metro. Because of consumers' requests and market needs, with the price playing a decisive role, we deliver fresh pasteurized milk in bags and yogurt and other products in PVC packaging. Our products are about 15 percent cheaper than competitive ones.

The agricultural company Sava Kovacevic should also become a pioneer in the use of livestock manure biogas by the year's end. Namely, in addition to milk they produce, milk cows of this Vrbas-based agricultural giant will also start producing electricity.

The company Mirotin, founded in 1992, is engaged in the production and sale of agricultural products, as well as raw materials for primary production and food industry. The company operates in the market of Serbia and foreign markets. Over 70 percent of its foreign operations are related to the export of dairy products, primarily to the markets of former Yugoslav republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro), as well as to the markets of the EU countries: Italy, Hungary, Germany, and others.

Mirotin is the majority shareholder of Banat oil factory in Nova Crnja and Mirotin-Tisa mill in Savino Selo, the owner of a 25-percent stake in Ecka fishing cooperative, and a shareholder of the trade company Agrovojvodina Komercservis.