The South Ossetian timber processing enterprise Alania Les is preparing to send the first batch of its products to Iran, its CEO Vladimir Bosikov told IA "Res".
According to Bosikov, the company's products have attracted interest from several large Iranian companies involved in timber trade. The agreement has already been reached with one of them to deliver a batch of products via Astrakhan at the end of this month.
In addition, next week we expect a visit from a representative of another large Iranian timber trade company, Hasan Sulemani. The purpose of the visit is to assess the scale of production and the quality of the products. If the visit is positive, the company is ready to purchase products directly in South Ossetia," Bosikov said.
In addition to the Iranian companies, Alania Les LLC receives offers to purchase all manufactured products from various companies in Turkey, China, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. They also received the offer to cooperate with the largest Russian timber trading platform Woodstock - and this is only at the launch stage.
The CEO has emphasized that the attractive pricing policy of the South Ossetian enterprise is a key factor attracting large companies.
"We have already sent samples of the products to the Azerbaijani company and are waiting for their response. They also requested a phyto-sanitary certificate; they are interested in the technology of steaming wood, which we also produce. If everything suits them, they are ready to purchase all our products. The Chinese side has also shown interest in the company's products. They are currently analyzing the logistics of deliveries to China, and if the result is positive, they are ready to pay 30% of the cost of the products," he said.
Bosikov has noted that the company is working every day, including Saturdays.
At the moment, according to him, the enterprise has finished products worth 14.5 million rubles, and edged boards are manufactured daily for another 600-700 thousand rubles.
The enterprise employs about 60 people; the average monthly salary of employees is 57 thousand rubles.
"Some of the enterprise's employees are on planned leave, some were fired due to professional incompetence," he specified.
Bosikov has noted that the enterprise has installed new equipment - a modern complex, which has no analogues in any similar plant in the entire North Caucasus.
According to him, the only used equipment is a Slovenian band sawmill, which the enterprise purchased at its own expense for "slabs" of non-standard round timber.
The CEO has noted that, like any young enterprise, "Alania Les" is currently experiencing temporary difficulties. This is due to the fact that the enterprise is not subsidized or budgetary and operates exclusively at its own expense.
"We are a business organization, not subsidized or financed from the budget. We took out a loan from VTB Bank and will gradually reach full production capacity," he is confident.
