(Nomination for 2013 AUREA Award): Vojvodinasume - Cold storage plant for game

In September 2012 the Vojvodinasume public company opened the first export-oriented cold storage plant for game in Serbia in the hunting ground Kacka Suma near Novi Sad, where meat designated for export to the European Union will be stored. For the first time in 20 years, this cold storage plant will make it possible for hunters from abroad to export the game they shoot in Vojvodina.

Hunters from abroad have so far been able only to take a trophy home from Serbia, while the export of the meat of hunted game has been banned. The main obstacle was the Meat Export Law. The newly opened cold storage plant is designed and equipped in line with the EU applicable legislation. Game is frozen at a temperature of minus 35 degrees Centigrade, which conforms to European standards for meat export.

The cold storage plant will be freezing, deep-freezing, packing and delivering catch to the addresses of hunters from abroad, and the value of these services is 10 times higher than the value of meat that would be left behind owing to hunters being unable to take their catch home.

The newly built cold storage plant will significantly improve the potential of hunting tourism in Serbia, which has been unduly neglected over the last few years.

First exports are expected in mid-May 2013, and people at Vojvodinasume expect this to decuple the number of hunters from abroad in our country.

A total of EUR 500,000 has been invested in the new cold storage plant. Aside from enabling hunters from abroad to export their catch from Serbia, this facility will also sell game meat to wholesale stores in Serbia and foreign countries.

INNOVATION

While a member of SFRY, Serbia was a leader in the development of hunting tourism and one of the most popular hunting destinations in Europe. However, the last export of game from Serbia to EU countries took place in 1991, after which our place was taken by Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In September 2012 the Vojvodinasume public company opened the first export-oriented cold storage plant for game in Serbia in the hunting ground Kacka Suma near Novi Sad, where meat designated for export to the European Union will be stored, which will make it possible for hunters from abroad to export the game they shoot in Vojvodina. SFRY used to be visited by 10,000 hunters from abroad, mainly from Italy. However, as of 1991, hunters were able only to take a trophy home from Serbia, while the export of the meat of hunted game was banned, which significantly reduced the potential of hunting tourism in Serbia.

An obstacle was the Meat Export Law. By co-financing a project with the Provincial Secretariat for Agriculture and Forestry of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Vojvodinasume has formed a system consisting of the newly built central export-oriented cold storage plant in the hunting ground Kacka Suma and 11 existing buffer and terminal cold storages. In these buffer and terminal cold storages, which are situated in hunting grounds ran by Vojvodinasume, game meat will undergo primary processing and then be cooled to +4°C. The company has also provided a specialized refrigerator truck to transport game meat to the central cold storage plant in Kacka Suma. In the newly built cold storage plant, which is designed and equipped in line with the EU applicable legislation, meat is first deep-frozen at -35°C in a shock chamber and then stored in a storage space, where the meat of feathered game is separated from the meat of furred game and the meat of thin-skinned game. This cold storage plant possesses all the required certificates for export.

The cold storage plant will be freezing, deep-freezing, packing and delivering catch to the addresses of hunters from abroad, and the revenue from these services is 10 times higher than the revenue from the sole production of game meat and game meat sales to foreign wholesale stores.

This cold storage plant has the storage capacity of 150 tonnes, while the annual meat turnover is projected at 550 tonnes.

Construction and equipping of a game meat processing facility will begin this year, and this represents the next stage in the development of the central cold storage plant.

One of the purposes of this new facility is to sell game meat to stores in the country by wholesale. During the whole year, the offer will include 17 types of game meat - deer, fallow deer, musk ox, wild boar, roe, rabbit, pheasant, partridge, three types of wild ducks, two types of wild goose, quail, turtledove, dove and woodcock. This service is primarily intended for hotel and hospitality companies wishing to enrich their offer with game meat specialties. At the same time, it will be the first game meat wholesale in the whole of ex-Yugoslavia.

SOCIAL UTILITY

The last export of game meat from the Republic of Serbia to EU countries took place in the autumn 1991. In order for Vojvodina and Serbia to fully regain their position among the leading regions for receptive hunting tourism, it is necessary not only to offer foreign hunters hunting services and allow them to take their trophies home, but also to provide them with the possibility of exporting the meat and meat products of the game they shot.

Europe’s most valuable hunting tourism market at the moment is Hungary, with about EUR 100 million worth of turnover annually. Although it does not lag behind its neighboring country in potential and even offers better conditions in hunting grounds, the hunting market in Serbia is valued at about EUR 3 million, and the development of the hunting tourism potential is hindered by lack of strategy and absence of export-oriented cold storage plants.

After more than 20 years, thanks to the construction of a specialized cold storage plant in Kacka Suma, Serbia has an opportunity to return to the EU market where it had been present for more than 30 years prior to the breakup of SFRY.

The first export of meat from the cold storage plant in Kacka Suma is in the pipeline for May 2013, given that hunting season begins April. People at Vojvodinasume claim that the first export will be the key for returning foreign hunters to hunting grounds in Serbia, adding that after the first quantities of meat leave the cold storage plant in Kacka Suma, there should be between 3,000 and 5,000 Italian hunters in Serbia in the summer 2014, up 10 times from current 300 to 500 a year.

If we know that each hunter stays in Serbia for up to 5 days, Serbia’s comeback to the top of hunting tourism in Europe will also bring significant revenues to the Serbian tourism.

FINANCIAL POTENTIAL

The last export of game meat from the Republic of Serbia to EU countries took place in the autumn 1991. After more than 20 years, thanks to the construction of a specialized cold storage plant in Kacka Suma, Serbia has an opportunity to return to the EU market where it had been present for more than 30 years prior to the breakup of SFRY.

The newly built cold storage plant will serve the following three purposes:

- export and sale of fresh meat to game meat wholesale stores abroad

- export of meat of the game shot by hunters from abroad while hunting in Serbia

- sale of game meat in Serbia by wholesale

So far, the game shot by foreign hunters in Serbia has been priced relatively cheap. However, the construction of a new cold storage plant will make it possible for hunters from abroad to export their catch from Serbia. The cold storage plant will be freezing, deep-freezing, packing and delivering catch to the addresses of hunters from abroad, and the revenue from these services is 10 times higher than the revenue from the sole production of game meat and game meat sales to wholesale stores abroad.

Hunting season in Serbia begins April, so that the first export of meat from the cold storage plant in Kacka Suma is in the pipeline for May 2013. After the first quantities of meat leave the cold storage plant in Kacka Suma, there should be between 3,000 and 5,000 Italian hunters in Serbia in the summer 2014, up 10 times from current 300 to 500 a year.

At the moment, our country can export about 500 tonnes (a total of 15 different types of game meat) of game meat annually, meaning that Serbia’s revenue from game meat exports to the EU is expected to reach approximately EUR 1.5 million a year.

Construction and equipping of a game meat processing facility will begin this year. This facility will serve the purpose of selling game meat in the Serbian market by wholesale. This service is primarily intended for hotel and hospitality companies wishing to enrich their offer with game meat specialties.

If Vojvodinasume's cold storage plant for game is your favorite for the investment of the year, you can vote for this candidate at the official website - Aurea.