New, attractive offer in Serbia - Duty free zone Vulkan Niš

At the beginning of September, local company for rubber processing "Vulkan" from Niš, owned by Bulgarian company “Minna”, presented the project for development of duty-free zone at 22 ha, on the grounds of the existing factory. The opening, as it is expected, should take place in 2009.

Free zone Vulkan Niš would be a space where business activities would be carried out under more liberal foreign trade, customs, tax and other terms. This zone will unite all services according to principle "all at one place". That would include production of goods, processing, storing, loading and unloading of goods, banking and finance services, insurance and reinsurance and freight-forwarding services, etc.

As the people in "Vulkan" explained to the editors of eKapija, the basic aims of the future duty-free zone are: attracting of export-oriented companies and investments, transfer of technology and know-how, employment, development of local industry and quicker penetration of foreign markets, as well as concentration of international trade through controlled channels.

One of the potentials of duty-free zone Vulkan Niš is a good geographic position of the city in regard to large transportation centers and ports in the region, as well as its connection with pan-European network of corridors. Namely, Niš is 235 km away from Belgrade, 406 km away from Salonica, 457 km away from Bar, 1773 km away from Hamburg and 1906 km away from Antverpen. The Ministry of Finance of Serbia and Customshouse “Niš” have promised support to this project.

Do you know the privileges stipulated by the Law on free zones in Republic of Serbia ?

- Import of goods and services to the zone and export of goods and services from the zone are free of duty.

- Import of semi-finished products for export-oriented goods is free of duty and all other import fees.

- Import of equipment, machines and building material is free of duty and other fees.

- The user of the zone freely disposes of foreign currency funds earned through operations in the zone.

- The rights of the user of the Zone are defined by the Law on free zones and they can not be reduced by any other regulation.

- Import all types of goods to the Zone is free of duty. The goods from the zone can be offered to the local market, but, in that case, duty and customs fees must be paid. If the goods that enter the customs zone of Serbia were produced in the Zone or were the subject to the manipulation with the participation of a local component, duty is paid only for the foreign component in the goods.

- Import to the zone and export from the zone are completely free, that is, there are no import or export licenses or other limitations of foreign-trade turnover; the goods that are imported from the Zone to the local market are the subject to regular import regime, but if the local component in the goods amount to minimum 50% of total value, such goods are considered as local.

- The goods can be temporarily taken out from the Zone and brought to the rest of the local territory or they can be brought into the Zone from the rest of the local territory for the sake of additional processing; which provides large opportunities for conection with local economy.

- Free transfer of profit realized through operations in the Zone.

- No expropriation is allowed on the territory of the Zone.

- The users of the Zone can rent, buy or build production, storage or business facilities.

Business results and product portfolio of stock company Vulkan Niš

Stock company “Vulkan” was founded in 1937 in Niš and it was privatized in January 2007 when Bulgarian company Minna from Sofia became its strategic partner. After privatization, in the first year of operations, the volume of production and realization was increased by 284% against year 2006, while the production and realization in the first quarter of year 2008 were 338% larger than in the samer period in 2007. According to the announcements, investments that will be realized by the end of the year amount to more than 1m EUR.

Production in factory Vulkan is organized in two production centers that are completely equipped for production of broad range of rubber conveyor belts for various purposes, rubber-floor plates, rubber-technical plates, products of rubber and metal, rubber hoses, rubber footwear and glues. “Vulkan” Niš exports its products to the markets of Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina…

Stock company Vulkan owns the quality management system certificate ISO 9001 since 1999.

Significant investment of stock company Vulkan Niš – Information system worth 35,000 EUR

For the sake of improvement of production and sales, "Vulkan“ invested 35,000 EUR in introduction of an information system.

The project is divided into three phases. The first phase saw the mutual connecting of facilities on the factory grounds by means of wireless technology, while the work stations in the buildings were connected by means of standard UTP network cables. The second phase saw the procurement of server machine DELL 2900 and work station, while the purchase of legal software for work stations is in the pipeline. Implementation of the unique information system, that is, the third phase, should be realized by the end of year 2008 and it includes training of employees and putting of accounting modules in operation.