Polish Business Survey
Delphi to open new factory
The US Delphi Delco Electronic Systems has announced that it will begin the construction of a 13,000sqm factory in Tychy in the Katowice Special Economic Zone. Kazimierz Ponganis of Delphi Automotive Systems Polska claims that initially the entire production is earmarked for export.
Delphi has already a factory in the zone which has been in operation since 1998. Since inception it has produced parts for Opel and Daewoo and since April it has also been making steering parts for Saab. These products are exported to Sweden and Finland. At the end of the year parts for the Toyota Yaris will also be made. Further exports are planned in a few months time to Delphi factories in Spain and Brazil.
Paradyż investing in tiles
Ceramika Paradyż, the second largest producer of ceramic tiles in Poland has announced investments which will bring its total production to around 20m sqm by the year 2002.
Details of this investment have not been made public although it is known that three new production lines are involved.
Ceramika Paradyż has enjoyed a quick increase in production. Only three years ago in 1997 it produced less than 4m sqm yet now it has hit 10.5m sqm. This increase is due to the opening of a new factory in Tomaszów Mazowiecki which is considered to be one of the most modern in Europe producing floor tiles.
The cost of creating one job at the factory is around USD100,000, based on 200 employees at the plant. The company obtained these funds from its own reserves together with loans.
Fisheries require PLN1.4bn
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has decided that to bring the Polish fishing industry up to EU standards investment of around PLN1.4bn are needed.
A development strategy for the industry will be submitted to the economic committee of the Cabinet this month before being forwarded to the EU Commission in Brussels. Most of the funds required between 2000-2006 will come from EU funds.
However most funds will only be available once Poland joins the EU. Until that time fisheries will be able to enjoy cheap credits up to PLN665m. The first tranche of this credit, worth PLN15m, will be available this year.
Other aid programmes for the industry include PLN65m from SAPARD from 2000-2002 and PLN9m from PHARE.
The sales system is also to be modernised with the introduction of electronic auctioning. PHARE 2001 will contribute PLN30m to this.
Vienna Life receives licence
The Austrian Vienna Life, owned by Wiener Statische has received permission from the treasury to run a life insurance operation in Poland.
The Austrian partner has taken 19.6m shares in the new company. Other shareholders include Heros and LVP Holding GmbH which have 200,000 shares each. The company has a capitalisation of PLN20m.
Life insurance is currently the most profitable form of insurance in Poland.
VAT increases
Next year the current zero rated VAT on flats could be replaced by a seven percent tax. This is part of one of the requirements which the EU is demanding before entry and the government is aiming to gradually get to a uniform tax rate for all products and services instead of a dramatic hike in 2002.
Nonetheless this will mean that as VAT is seven percent higher here than in Germany, it could be cheaper to get building materials over the western border. This is one of the reasons why the EU hopes to get to a situation where VAT differs by no more than five percent in each member country.
Bank plans no job cuts
By the beginning of next month at the latest the treasury will sell 10.29 percent of PBK bank to Bank Austria Creditanstalt Poland. The cost of each share has yet to be settled although it is now certain that in the last quarter of this year there will be a fusion between the two banks.
The merger will be based on the balance sheets for 1999 although in fact this represents an acquisition for the Austrians. From the moment of the merger the bank will be called Powszechny Bank Kredytowy w Warszawie.
No more fat for White Eagle
The US White Eagle Industries owner of a 51 percent share of the Bolmar vegetable oils producer has proposed to buy the 15 percent share belonging to the National Investment Fund Kwiatkowski. The fund is however dragging its heels. Last year Bolmar lost over PLN13m although in the first quarter of this year it hit PLN680,000 profit.