After finishing his studies in Switzerland and England, Tommys Mitsides, a professional technologist, specialized in working at the mill, started in 1979 to work in the family’s factory Mitsides in Cyprus, which was at that time led by his father, that is already more than eight decades engaged in the production of flour and pasta.
Yes, it is very difficult. We are facing a huge exchange rate differences, competition is fierce, and sometimes we have to be very strict in order to charge debts. But it seems to be part of the mentality and a way of life in Serbia. We had no such problems in Cyprus, but we are here, and we are adapting to it. This is actually a hard job because there are many mills in the country, many pasta factories, as well as major supermarket chains and other key customers to be taken into account. However, from day to day market situation is improving. When you look closely, we are in the center of Europe, half an hour from Croatia, from European Union, and all other countries are relatively close, which is a big advantage.
The potential of the Serbian market is huge. I believe in Serbia and that’s why I’m here all these years. Unfortunately, everything is going very slowly because of the crisis. We are in the center of Balkan, we have access to the European market, we have good relations with almost all countries around us. If a small company like ours can export every month to the US or the UK, this means that it really has a potential.
In the first place is the product quality and tendency to maintain the constancy of quality. And, of course, very important is the price of the product. Lately, everybody is sensitive to prices. Therefore it is necessary to maintain high quality, but products should be offered at the lowest possible cost.
We always think about innovations, but we will talk about that when we present them. For now, I can announce that in January in Cyprus we will launch a redesigned packaging of some of our products.
It will be another slow year, more or less the same as in 2015. I do not think there will be some bigger changes on the market. Everything happens slowly, step by step. When we look at Serbia as a whole, significant investments in agriculture are required and exports should be increased, which would also contribute to an increased inflow of money into the budget. Serbia has top professionals in the diaspora and it would be good for them to return to the country or to invest in market development from abroad. We are trying to have a clear goal and to move forward step by step. This is no time for big jumps, until everything is back to normal. In any case, I think it will all get better eventually.
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