Johnson Matthey and Johnson Controls boost Macedonian exports. According to the TIRZ CEO Viktor Mizo, by the end of the year foreign companies operating in the free economic zones will achieve exports worth over € one billion, lider.mk writes.
“Johnson Matthey is the number one exporter in Macedonia, not only from the zones. This company in May exported goods worth over € 90 million, which is an absolute record for them. By the end of the year, Johnson Matthey will achieve even greater results for monthly exports even more than € 100 million”, Mizo says.
According to him, Johnson Controls in Shtip has more than 1,300 employees and contributes significantly to increasing domestic exports.
“It means that the optimum is reached. Let’s not forget that there is Van Hool as well, where three of the four production lines are operating, and Kemet Electronics already reached larger production than last year, and normally Johnson Controls in Skopje, but even Prodis and TeknoHoze that perhaps from absolute point of view have smaller amounts of exports, but much higher than last year and it all contributes to a drastic increase in exports from the zones and results of an increase of over 15% of total state exports in the first 4 months ” Mizo added.
Foreign companies not only helped in the revival of the economy and reducing unemployment, but changed the structure of exports. Catalysts of carriers with precious metals or their compounds, ferosilicium, ferronickel, iron and steel products and clothing, are the most exported products from the country.
The Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski recently pointed out that one of the major benefits from the arrival of foreign investment is the exports rising and the change in the structure of exports since winning new markets.
According to Stavrevski, this trend shows that we have the potential to increase the added value in Macedonia, and not to export what is only the basic production.
“This is why we project about 10 percent growth in exports each year, I believe it is even a conservative scenario, because it is possible to achieve higher exports and companies working in the zones in the next year or two will contribute to more than one-third of the total Macedonian exports”, Stavreski added.
