As Novac/Jutarnji/Vedran Marjanovic writes, formerly known for its technological innovations and breakthroughs in the production of paper hygiene products and sanitary equipment, the Zagreb company Delt papir has made another noteworthy business step these days by founding a company in no less than Japan.
This is the company Tubeless Japan, with which the Zagreb company Delt Papir, as its director Krunoslav Kisak explained, will try to penetrate one of the strongest and richest markets in the entire world.
”Tubeless is a brand of Delt papir with which we’re present in 27 countries across Europe and the Middle East through our distributors. The opening of the company in Japan is a big step forward for our company in terms of the further internationalisation of the Tubeless brand,” said Kisak. Alen Krajacic is a member of the Management Board and co-owner of Delt Papir alongside Kisak, and the company has been operating since back in 2003.
The most logical reaction to the aforementioned business step for the Zagreb company Delt Papir would be that this is the first company founded by Croatian businessmen in one of the world’s leading economic powers and one of the strongest and richest, and many would also add the most closed off markets in the world.
”According to our Ambassador to Japan Drazen Hrastic, during his tenure in the past six years, no Croatian company has opened a branch in Japan,” revealed Kisak, confirming the assessment at least for the latest period of Croatian-Japanese economic relations.
According to the CBS, Croatia exports goods worth 334 million kuna a year to Japan, with food products such as tuna, wine, cheese and olive oil having the largest share. Japan is not even among the 25 most important export markets for Croatian companies, and given this data, Delt Papir’s decision to enter the Japanese market only gains more weight.
”Japan’s market is quite literally enormous in terms of its users, as it is a country with 126 million inhabitants, but also as the world’s third largest economy. This market is ready for Croatian IoT innovation which increases and facilitates the insight into the consumption of paper towels, toilet paper, soap and other consumables and provides a level of control over it, all through our software that is unique,” Kisak explained when discussing the motives Delt Papir has which made them create Tubeless Japan.
The Tubeless brand includes, among other things, toilet paper with a specific packaging without a cardboard tube, soap holders and disinfectants. For the further development of this brand, the Zagreb company Delt Papir was also provided with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund through support totalling 7.8 million kuna.
”Over on the Japanese market, we expect accelerated sales growth, which we believe we’ll successfully be able to monitor given the investment in the new production capacities of Tubeless products over the last 12 months, worth almost 23 million kuna. In Japan, the hygiene of everything in general, including in toilets, is at an unimaginably high level, so we’re convinced that Tubeless, along with the IoT solution, is perfect for the Japanese market,” said Kisak.
Asked whether the Zagreb company Delt Papir could count on the help of the Croatian Embassy in Tokyo when it arrived on the Japanese market, Kisak said that it provided an introductory presentation of Tubeless products and networking.
”We started thinking about starting the company Tubeless Japan back in 2019 with our colleague Edward Vondra, who has been living in Japan since 2014,” Kisak noted. Referring to the regulatory conditions in Japan when it comes to opening a company, Kisak explained that starting a company isn’t much more complex than the procedure to do the same here in Croatia.
”The most time was spent adjusting to Japanese laws and getting multiple translations of documents with certain specifics that each country has when opening a new company. The biggest specificity is that everything that is done in Japan must be perfect. Perfect in design, functionality and innovation. We believe that Tubeless is just such a brand,” concluded the director of the Zagreb company Delt Papir, which employs about 70 people in its plants and business offices in Jankomir, and ended the last business year with annual revenue of 134 million kuna in 2020 and a profit of ten million kuna.
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