Ambitious business plans for the Croatian pyrotechnics giant.
Franjo Koletić, director and owner of Mirnovec, Croatia’s company specialized for pyrotechnics production, fireworks display and movie special effects, has very ambitious business plans for the future, reports liderpress.hr on April 29, 2016.
Koletić said that his company had already reached the pinnacle of the pyrotechnics business in this region, but added that they were also focusing on the rest of the world. “Meanwhile, we have become co-owners of a company in Serbia which manufactures pyrotechnics; six companies are participating in this factory. This company will be the biggest one in Europe for production of firework boxes. We have made this decision because we are having more and more problems with the Chinese [partners], or rather with transport, because of terrorism and other issues. Today, you could get a cargo container from China for 1,000 dollars, while we have to pay about 12,000 dollars for it”, he explained.
Asked about the quality of the products, he said that Chinese goods were of solid quality, but the “workers are now cheaper” in Serbia than in China. “They do not work anymore for ‘a cup of rice’. Their salaries are now slightly lower than the Croatian average salary and they range from 400 to 500 dollars. In Serbia, a worker is making between 200 and 300 dollars”, he said.
Koletić added that China had become more expensive in general. “Their goods are not as cheap as before. Also, transport of dangerous goods has increased twofold to threefold. China is getting more expensive and that was exactly the intention of their politicians. They have opened their market with the cheap workforce, enough to get the technology and the investors, and now that they have become an economic powerhouse, the prices are not so favorable anymore. The profits of the companies which operate there are decreasing.”
In the meantime, after about five years of preparations, a construction of the entertainment park in Biograd has started which will cost Mirnovec, the investor in the project, about 15 million euros in its first stage. Although this seems an unusual investment for a company which has been ranked among the top 20 in the world in the field of pyrotechnics, Koletić explained that this was a logical broadening of the company’s business operations.
“These are both entertainment industries. They produce entertainment for the people. We do that with fireworks, while in the parks people have fun in different ways, whether on the rides or enjoying numerous shows and performances. The idea is the same – we sell fun”, he concluded.
