Visa-Prom Ltd. is an enterprise that has spent more than 30 years operating successfully on the local and international markets. Thanks to its expert personnel, state-of-the-art equipment, high quality raw materials, perseverance and constant innovation, it has amassed a large number of regular customers
Serbia’s largest processor of primary wood sources its raw materials exclusively from forests that are managed sustainably, thereby providing its own contribution to ensuring an ecologically sustainable future. Here we speak with Visa-Prom CEO Vladimir Mitić about the company’s relationship towards the environment, production processes, investments and plans.
Your company is among the largest primary wood processors operating in the Republic of Serbia. How much does your annual turnover total?
Our company has existed for 30 years already, but it is only since 2011 that our composition has included a factory for primary wood processing, which was opened with the desire to renew the production of packaging and create new jobs for the citizens of Kanjiža.
This factory is divided into four production units: production of pallets, production of veneers, production of plywood and production of composite pallet blocks.
Our company is among the largest primary wood processors operating in the Republic of Serbia, with an annual processing capacity exceeding 50,000m3. We are simultaneously also one of the country’s largest producers of pallets, with annual production exceeding 600,000 units, which are sold on the domestic market, as well as over 12,000m3 of poplar veneers and plywood that are sold exclusively on the EU market.
Our company is among the largest primary wood processors operating in the Republic of Serbia, with an annual processing capacity exceeding 50,000m3
We are the only company on the Serbian market that manufacturespressed cubes. As one of the largest producers of EPAL pallets in Serbia, we have licensed our pressed cube according to the EPAL standard, which enables us to use this cube in the production of EPAL pallets.
Your company is constantly working to advance some element of operations and investing in the modernisation of equipment and plants. Is there no end to investments?
We like to say that there is no waste in the wood industry, only leftover wood, and we use it as an energy source for our furnace plants, in which we will invest significant resources in order for us to reduce emissions of harmful gases, and thus also environmental pollution. In order for us to complement the production process and maximise our use of raw materials, we have invested 1.5 million euros in a new plant and equipment for processing leftover wood, or more specifically for producing compressed blocks. We’ve also planned to install solar panels in the factory complex. The first phase encompasses the installing of solar panels for the production of 140 kWp of electricity, while the second phase is to install additional panels with a capacity to generate 80 kWp. In order for us to cater fully to the factory’s electricity needs, while simultaneously generating a surplus that we will sell on the market, we plan to build a large solar power plant of up to 10MWp.
You note with pride that your wood reaches the final customer via a chain that’s strictly monitored. That serves as the best confirmation that you care about both the local community and the planet?
Our wood is sourced from sustainable forestry, because establishing profitable transport and continuous supplies of raw materials is an important link in the chain of our production cycle. We know where and from whom we source our high-quality poplar wood, which we transport by barge along the river Tisa to the factory, as well as by road. We have an FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] certificate, which represents a guarantee that the wood we use reaches the end user via a strictly monitored chain: from certified forests, via processing to final production. The FSC certificate represents a reliable link from the product in the hands of the end user that can be traced back through responsible production and the rational use of wood, to the felling of forests that are under the strict supervision of experts.