Viet Nam, Poland discuss new credit agreements

The Vietnamese and Polish finance ministries are discussing conditions for two new credit agreements totally worth 280 million USD that Poland will grant Viet Nam.

At a press meeting in Ha Noi on Aug. 26, Polish commercial attache Z. Pavlik said that the new credits will be used to further develop the shipbuilding industry and build a thermal power plant in Viet Nam.

Earlier, the Polish government provided Viet Nam's shipbuilding industry with 70 million USD under a credit agreement which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Poland has exported about 62 million USD worth of materials and equipment to the Vietnamese shipbuilding industry within the agreement framework.

Two-way trade between Viet Nam and Poland was valued at 109.6 million USD in the first half of this year. Of the figure, Poland exported 19.4 million USD worth of goods to Viet Nam and imported 90.2 million USD.

Viet Nam mainly exports rice, tea, coffee, footwear, garments and food to Poland

(Source: VNA)

Robinson to open packaging factory in Poland

UK firm is following customers in establishing Lodz site.

24 August 2005 – UK packaging group Robinson has acquired a factory site in Poland and is aiming to start production of injection moulded plastics packaging there in the first quarter of 2006.

Chief executive Jon Marx told PRW.com the decision was taken to follow customers who had set up in central Europe. Although Robinson is currently shipping to these customers from its plants in Chesterfield and Kirby-in-Ashfield, the company does not anticipate job losses in the UK when the Polish operation starts, he said.

Robinson has paid £1.3m (E1.9m) for the 12,000 sq metre factory, which was built in the 1980s and is located in Lodz. It will employ 25 people in its first year, but as it is redeveloped over a five-year period staffing levels are expected to rise to about 100 people.

In financial results announced today, Robinson said sales in the plastic packaging business increased by 6% in the January-June period. It had mixed success in passing on higher polymer and energy costs, resulting in pre-tax profit for the whole group falling by nearly a half to £358,000 (E526,000). Turnover increased by 2% to £11.3m (E16.6m).

Robinson won new plastics business worth around £500,000 (E735,000) from Cryovac Sealed Air in the first half. More than £1m (E1.5m) was spent on processing equipment for this new business, together with other contracts such as a new container for United Biscuits.

(Source: PRW.com)

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Research and Markets: Poland's Service Station Market Analyzed with Five Year Forecasts

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Poland Service Stations 2005 to their offering.

The Poland Service Stations 2005 report provides 2004 year-end market data, with 2005 estimates and five-year forecasts. The report gives an instant overview of the Polish service station market, and covers sales of diesel, petrol, light heating oil, and LPG through forecourt retailers. Market size is based on consumption volume. The data is supplied in both graphical and tabular format for ease of interpretation and analysis.

(Source: R&M)

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Ergasias says Poland is next Mount Olympus to climb

Greece's third biggest bank, EFG Eurobank Ergasias, plans to enter Poland and open as many as 200 branches, the Greek press reports.

Polish Eurobank, controlled by France's Societe Generale, expects the Polish patent office to register its brand before its Greek namesake starts expanding the market. It has already spent zł.80 million on advertising to make its brand name recognizable. "Using our brand name to attract clients would not be the right decision. If it turns out to be a reality we will search for a relevant solution," said Maciej Szczechura, marketing director at Eurobank. The Greek company is eying up Poland, as it could not find possible takeovers in its domestic market. It should also record profits in Bulgaria and Romania, where the loan market is more favorable than in Greece.
(Source: Parkiet)

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Poland sees big rise in exports to Russia

Political relations between Warsaw and Moscow are frayed but economic ties are strengthening, with Polish exports to Russia jumping by 40 per cent in the first six months of this year, according to recently released figures.
The increase in exports is in large part due to companies such as Opoczno, a ceramic tile maker, whose sales last year to Russia jumped 27 per cent.

"The market in Russia reminds us of the Polish market . . . in the early 1990s," said Monika Chmielewska, a company spokeswoman. "The Russian market is very needy. We are looking to eventually set up a factory or to buy a Russian producer."

Although not all Polish companies have had an easy ride in Russia, the lure of its market is proving irresistible.

During a conference on Polish investments in Russia and Ukraine, Marek Pastusiak, a director of Atlas, a Polish industrial glue maker, described the difficulties of setting up a factory outside Moscow. He talked of impenetrable Russian bureaucracy, corruption and underground factories producing thousands of tonnes of counterfeit glue. But he believes Russia is too important to ignore.

Russian exports to Poland consist mostly of oil and natural gas. In the first half of this year Poland exported 5.7bn zlotys (£966m) of goods to Russia and imported 11.8bn zlotys' worth.

Russia now accounts for 4.1 per cent of Poland's exports, up from a low of 2.8 per cent following Russia's economic crisis in 1998.

The figure is still far below that recorded in Poland's last full year as a communist nation; in 1988, 24.5 per cent of its exports went to the Soviet Union.

Most of what Poland sells in Russia is made by small and medium-sized companies whose owners lived through the transition from communism to capitalism in 1990, and later had to guide their companies through the economic stagnation of 2001-2002. Exporters also had to deal with the aftermath of Russia's financial collapse.

Now that Poland is a member of the EU, its companies can export freely to the west. But many are finding that they have the expertise to operate in the old markets.

"It's easier for Poles to figure out how to do business in Russian than for west European companies," said Bohdan Wyznikiewicz, an economist with Poland's Gdansk Institute for Market Economics.

The buoyant economic ties come despite strained political relations. Poles were offended by the May 9 Moscow celebrations marking the end of the second world war, which avoided mentioning Soviet collaboration with the Nazis in 1939 and Moscow's rule over Poland for half a century after the war.

Russia was enraged at Poland's intervention in Ukraine during last year's Orange Revolution, and Moscow fears Warsaw will try to influence EU policies in an anti-Russian direction.

But while politicians snipe, business is looking up. "The emotional tensions aren't affecting us," said Ms Chmielewska.

(Source: Financial Times)

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Poland's jobless rate inches down in July

Poland's unemployment rate inched down to 17.9 percent in July from 18 percent the month before, the government's statistics office said Tuesday.

The Central Statistical Office said some 2.8 million people were unemployed in July, or some 18,000 less than in June, in this nation of 38 million. It was still the largest jobless figure among the 10 mostly former communist countries that joined the European Union in May 2004.

The jobless rate hit a post-communist peak of 20.7 percent in February 2003 and is expected to dip below 17 percent this year.

(Source: AP)

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Poland proudly chalks up one millionth visitor at Expo 2005 in Japan

According to the organizers of the Expo 2005 in Japan, around one million guests have visited the Polish exhibition so far.
The frequency success is not only due to the Japanese interest in the Polish exhibition but also, and maybe primarily, in Poland itself. This is mainly the result of our accession to EU," said Marcin Kaszuba, Deputy Minister of Economy and Labor. Most popular among the visitors were the Polish beer days sponsored by Browary Tyskie, and the miniature of the salt mine in Wieliczka. It is hard to say what exactly will be the benefits of the success of the Polish Expo exhibition in Aichi, as there are very few businessmen among the visitors. According to the Tourism Institute, over the first half of the year 16,700 Japanese have already visited Poland, which is nearly 17% more than in the analogous period of 2004.

(Source: Rzeczpospolita)

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ENERGY: ENEL'S INTERNATIONAL SPRINT TOWARDS POLAND

he Italian energy company Enel has presented a binding offer for a stake in the Polish energy producer Dolna Odra, which operates three coal plants in the country. After selling off its telecom company, Wind, to the Egyptian company Weather, and being obliged by EU regulation to open up to competition on its local market, thereby renouncing some of its Italian assets, Enel is actively investing abroad in Eastern Europe and Russia. The company is now present in Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

There are six companies participating in the bid for Dolna Odra: Electrabel from Belgium, Cez from Czechoslovakia, German firm Pcc, Endesa and Iberdrola from Spain, and Enel.

A shortlist of the companies admitted in the bid should be announced in September by the economy ministry, with the final outcome decided by the end of 2005.

Poland has already privatised two energy companies, which were sold off to Edf and Electrabel.

In Western Europe, Enel also operates in Spain, through a joint partnership with Viesgo and Enel (Union Fenosa) and France, where it has recently signed an agreement with Edf, focusing on a nuclear programme with EPR new generation reactors.

In 2005, thanks to its internationalisation efforts, Enel plans to reach a production capacity abroad of 16,500 Megawatts (Mw), far superior from the 15,000 Mw it has lost in Italy through the liberalisation process. Slovakia, where ENEL is still finalising the deal with the government, would account for 7,000 Mw; Poland for 2,400 Mw and France for 3,000 Mw. In Italy, Enel produces 42,000 Mw.

In 1987, the Italian public voted against the nuclear industry in a referendum. Now Enel, in which the Italian government owns more than 25 percent - via a 20 percent direct stake, plus another 10 percent through a controlled company - has decided to re-enter the sector to diversify its energy risks and be less dependent on oil, on which some energy plants operate.

In terms of its nuclear programmes, Enel has reached two important goals with the recent deal in Slovakia - which still needs to be finalised - and in France - where Enel will participate in EDF's nuclear project.

(Source: AKI)

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Endesa to launch binding offer for Poland's Elektrowni Kozienice on Friday

Endesa SA plans to launch a binding offer on Friday for Polish electricity utility Elektrownia Kozienice, in a deal valued in some 600 mln eur, a spokeswoman said.

Last Friday, Endesa also presented an offer for Poland's Zespol Elektrowni Dolna Odra, valued at 400 mln eur.

Elektrownia Kozienice has a total installed capacity of 2.845 megawatts (MW), while Zespol Elektrowni Dolna Odra has installed capacity of 1.960 MW.

Iberdrola SA is also widely expected to bid for the two companies after confirming non-binding offers for both in May.

Today, the Basque utility declined to comment on a final bid for 'reasons of confidentiality.'

(Source: AFX)

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Tesco hit by protests over Polish workers’ status

TESCO stores in London, Dublin and Poland have been targeted by protesters in a dispute over Polish workers at one of the supermarket group’s distribution centres in Ireland.

The row will be embarrassing for Tesco, which has tried to tackle staff shortages by recruiting hundreds of staff from Poland over the past 12 months. Two Polish workers, Zbyszek Bakala and Radek Sawicki, who had worked at Tesco’s largest Irish distribution centre, at Tallaght, employed by a recruitment agency. They claim to have been “sacked” after complaining about working conditions at the warehouse. They had also objected to the fact that Tesco staff were paid more than those employed by the agency.

The protestors are demanding the reinstatement of the pair and want agency staff who have worked for Tesco for more than three months taken on full-time. They are also calling for the scrapping of daily targets for staff working in distribution centres.

A spokesman for Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, insisted that the operation of the warehouse had been unaffected — despite reports of walkouts in support of the “sacked” workers.

The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) has backed the protest, writing to the British Chamber of Commerce in Poland and the chairman of Tesco Polska to register its concern. Tesco stores in Warsaw, Poznan, Gdynia and Szczecin have been picketed by protesters, supported also by the Greens Party activists (Zieloni 2004).

Poland is one of Tesco’s largest international markets, but despite having paid £390m to buy rival retailer Hit, Tesco has yet to make a profit. Retailers in Poland have suffered from a depressed economy and tighter planning regulations.

A spokesman for Tesco insisted that the dispute was an isolated incident: “In recruiting staff, we thrive on Tesco being an attractive place to work.

“Feedback from the Polish workers in our UK business is very positive. They like working for Tesco and a number have already been promoted and are looking forward to successful careers with us,” he added.

(Source: The Sunday Times)