The proprietor of the biggest German meat company, Clemens Toennies was given the green light by the local government in Zrenjanin to lease 2,420 hectares of state-owned arable land for a period of 30 years.
This decision, made by the relevant commission, should be also approved by the Zrenjanin Town Assembly. However, this is just one of the five requests put forward by Toennies. His end goal is to have 10,000 hectares of arable land in Serbia which is how much he needs to open pig farms and abattoirs. The planned investment is in the region of 300 million EUR.
The lease of the first segment of the arable land is an indication that Toennies will invest here, and, if his other requirements were approved, he stands to become one of the five biggest land owners in Serbia. The pig farm that the German company plans to open near Zrenjanin will be first of its kind in Serbia.
The Blic’s source from the government says that the decision made by the Zrenjanin government has opened the doors to one of the biggest investments in Serbia.
“Zrenjanin is the first location to give the green light to Toennies. This is very important since it was the Zrenjanin area that the company wanted to build its first two farms in Serbia. Zrenjanin has a good infrastructure and quality land that fit the company’s standards. The decision to grant the land lease was made based on a business plan presented by the company”, our source adds.
He goes on to say that the remaining four towns, where Toennies has also applied for land lease, would make a decision in the following few days.
“I think that it is almost certain that Kikinda will follow Zrenjanin’s suit and approve a 30-year-lease of around 3,000 hectares of arable land to Toennies. All in all, I think the German company will have all of its requirements met so it only sounds logical that the first phase of investment in Serbia, which entails breeding around 700,000 pigs, starts by the year end. This number should reach 4 million in the next few years. Still, the decisions made by local governments still have to be additionally approved by the State Land Lease Commission with Agriculture Minister, Branislav Nedimovic at its helm”, our source adds.
(Blic, 20.07.2017)
This post is also available in: Italiano