AGRANELA is known on the market as a producer of prunes. In the beginning, the placement was confined to bulk packaging, while today our prunes are sold mostly packed in various forms of bags. Following the requirements of our customers and new trends, we have adopted the prunes-production technology free of preservatives. Our product’s shelf life is 365 days which is usually the shelf life for prunes with preservatives. This type of processing is a novelty in Serbia and the region, and it is underrepresented in Europe as well. Also, we supplemented our assortment with a line of chocolate products (chocolate coated prunes and dried apricots). We are currently developing a new product line, healthy dried-fruit balls. AGRANELA is predominantly export-oriented, which is why we are present at leading fairs where we make new contacts and maintain the existing ones. Our regular customers come from all over the world. In addition to customers in our immediate surroundings (to whom we mostly offer our PL brands) our customers can be found throughout Europe, and we have conquered all continents with the exception of Australia.
Year of establishment:
2003
Location:
Selo Suseoka, Divci
Founder and owner:
Ratomir Tomic
Business information
| 2021 | 2015 | 2010 | 2005 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time employees | 35 | 31 | 23 | 20 |
| Turnover (EUR) | 3.7 m | 2.4 m | 2.2 m | 2.2 m |
| Export (EUR) | 2.8 m | 2.1 m | 1.2 m | 916,000 |
PRODUCTS/SERVICES
COMPANY DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL STORY
Agranela was established in 2003 as a “daughter” company of a company that has been mainly engaged in fruit trade since 1992. The founder and co-owner of the mother-company, Mr. Ratomir Tomic, recognised the potential in dried fruit and the possibility to win new customers and markets through cultivation, processing and marketing of prunes from the famous plum groves of Valjevo, a region in western Serbia where he is from. In order to achieve greater capacities and product safety, we imported from distant South America in 2007 a line for machine pruning of prunes, and switched from manual to mechanical pruning. The increase in capacity has enabled us to win new customers and markets, which we managed to achieve owing to good product quality. We also owe our new markets to necessary visits to trade fairs and to investment in standardisation and certification of products (compliant with HCCP, BRC, and IFS standard version 7.1.). After the death of its founder (Mr. Ratomir Tomic) in 2010 AGRANELA was inherited by his heirs and remains a family-oriented business. The clear goal and task of the company is still the same: by monitoring new technologies, designing and marketing new dried fruit products – we want to raise the bar that is never too high for us.
CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
AGRANELA is located in the municipality of Mionica, one of the less developed municipalities in Serbia. With that in mind Mr. Tomic had participated in the renovation of local roads since the company’s establishment. He also helped in the construction of a local bridge over Kolubara river, while his successors renovated the local church.The original Mr.Tomic’s idea was to employ local population of the municipality, primarily women who were mostly unemployed. The number of staff has doubled since AGRANELA’s establishment and the expansion of production capacities year on year indicates an opportunity to hire new workers. Our management aims to improve production processes and to train the staff to be able to work in new positions resulting from introduction of new technologies. As many as 3/4 of the most important jobs in production is performed by women, our technologists and the most important segment in food production. Also, the company’s co-owner, and a person who actively participates in the company’s operation and management, is a woman.
