Agrobrnja's silo-port in Beocin in operation as of late May - Plan to build additional 70,000 cubic meters of storage space and boost revenue by 30%

(silo-port in Beocin) Agrogrnja from Backi Petrovac, a finalist for the 2016 Aurea Investment of the Year Award, has finished the first phase of silo-port construction in Beocin, which includes a storage space with a river port with a total capacity of 30,000 cubic meters. The company is currently in the process of developing a system for loading cargo onto ships, and Agrogrnja Director Vladislav Nedic told eKapija that the plan was to make the silo-port fully operational by the end of May. Then the new investments will follow.

- Silos can already be used to store goods - crops and oilseeds. As for the second phase of the storage capacity development, which calls for the construction of additional 70,000 cubic meters of storage space or so, we are planning on commencing it in late 2016 or early 2017 - Nedic pointed out.

According to him, construction of this silo-port will contribute to a significant revenue boost.
- We expect the revenue to grow primarily because of the services that the silo-port is going to render to users, such as storing, drying and loading cargo onto ships. Making an exact projection of the revenue growth is not possible, but our expectations are that the revenue will go up about 30% - the director of Agrogrnja explained.

As he noted, the company is very satisfied with operations in 2016, which he expects to be one of the most successful, or even the best ever, in the history of Agrogrnja.

Let us remind that January 2015 saw this company from Backi Petrovac commence the construction of silos with a river port in Beocin, with a capacity of about 30,000 cubic meters and a complete equipment for receiving, storing, reloading and drying grain crops. A total value of this project is about EUR 5 million, and with the further expansion of the capacity, this investment will become one of the largest by the storage size in the southern course of the Danube River.

The silo-port was built on a land lot of two hectares that Agrogrnja purchased in the business park of the Lafarge BFC company. Upon the completion of the second phase of the project, this silo-port will become the biggest on the Rhine-Mein-Danube Canal (with an exception of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Constanta in Romania).

Advantages of river transport


(Vladislav Nedic with eKapija Managing Director Zdravko Loncar) Although financially viable and environmentally sustainable, transport of goods by river is still neglected in the Balkans, where only a small number of silo-ports operate at the moment, and Nedic is of the opinion that there are objective reasons for insufficient use of this form of transport.

- In order to fully utilize the river transport for exports, it is necessary to have the water level of the Danube on an optimum level, optimum prices for export goods, and an optimum surplus of crops and oilseeds in the local market. If any of these elements is missing, transport by river, that is, export of goods, is not functioning - Nedic told eKapija.

Regardless of the risk, Agrogrnja will gain a significant competitive edge in the field of cargo transport with the construction of modern silo-port. This project will allow for direct export of mercantile goods and shorten the time it takes to store crops.

The silo-port in Beocin will be used to store grain crops, such as wheat, soybean, barley, sunflower, oilseed rape... They will then be transported by river to the Port of Constanta, where transatlantic ships will take these goods to new markets. With the help of this project, the Agrogrnja company will raise international trade in crops to a higher level, and the silo-port will also benefit small agricultural producers as it will encourage the export of arable crops.

Support to the local agriculture sector
The significance of this investment seems even bigger when we know that no silo-port has been built in the southern course of the Danube in the last few decades. The use of river transport will accelerate the process of delivering goods from manufacturers to buyers and increase the volumes of exports. For Serbia's agriculture sector, where the state has cut financial incentives, this project is of great importance, and the biggest benefits will be enjoyed by farmers in the territory of Backa and Srem.

With the construction of silo-port in Beocin, farmers have obtained a facility they can use to store, keep and sell their products. Besides, Agrogrnja employs a team of experts who visit manufacturers and advise them on agricultural technology and correct use of fertilizers, with the aim of reducing the deposits of harmful matters in the soil. A modern technology of unloading, storing, drying and transporting crops in the new silo-port will reduce the emission of CO2 gases, while river transport, as one of the most eco-friendly forms of cargo transport, will contribute to the preservation of environment.

K.M.

AgroGrnja Pivnice

LAFARGE BFC SRBIJA DOO BEOČIN

Agrogrnja Backi Petrovac

silo port Beocin

silo port construction in Beocin

Vladislav Nedic

Aurea

Aurea 2016

investment of the year award Aurea

Aurea Award finalists

storing crops

exporting crops

reloading crops

river transport of crops

silo port

silos

drying crops

Lafarge BFC

business park Lafarge BFC Beocin

river course Rhina Mein Danube

Rotterdam

Constanta

silo ports in the Balkans

advantages of river transport

transport of goods by water

the Danube

the Danube River

crop production

oilseeds production

grain crops

wheat

barley

sunflower

oilseed rape

soybean

Port of Constanta

transatlantic ships

agricultural production in Serbia

agrarian sector in Serbia

Backa Srem

CO2 emmission

preservation of environment