Industrial transformation with AB “Achema”: from challenges to opportunities
On the 3rd of October conference organised by Jonava branch of Kaunas Chamber of Trade, Industry and Craft “Jonava Entrepreneurship Identity” took place in Jonava.
Regional economical perspectives, innovations and the undergoing local business transformations were discussed in the course of the conference. Afterwards a discussion was held on the topic “Business challenges and / opportunities in Jonava Region. Why is it worth creating a business in Jonava?”. The participants of the conference had an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the success stories of the companies as well as discuss the business development opportunities in Jonava.
5 presentations were given by business representatives from Jonava during the first part of the conference, called “The Potential and Transformation of Companies from Jonava Region”. One of the presentations was given by our colleague – development innovation engineer from company “Achema” Tadas Čeponis. During his presentation “Industrial Transformation with AB “Achema”: from challenges to opportunities” he talked about the challenges faced by the company and the changes planned.
According to T. Čeponis, next year the company will be celebrating the 60th anniversary, nevertheless, there are quite many challenges. First of all, Tadas presented an overview of the EU fertilizer market, where the import from the third countries comprises almost half from all the consumed fertilizers. “Despite the fact that the natural gas from Russia is currently suspended, the fertilizers manufactured using it as a raw material is still being imported. The price of the gas comprises almost 70 percent of the cost price, thus, competing with the production from cheap gas is really complicated,” underlined the presenter.
Innovations were also discussed, new developed products (bioresins for the production of wood panels) were introduced and significant cooperation with Kaunas University of Technology was highlighted during the presentation.
“We pay a lot of attention to pollution prevention, green energy and energy efficiency, we only buy green energy, we are building two new solar module parks in the northern and western parts of the country, we are also assessing the possibilities of energy storage technologies,” explained T. Čeponis.
While presenting the green hydrogen project during the conference he provided arguments why the project was postponed and why it refused the funding allocated by the EU. The anxiously awaited changes include normalised fertilizer market of the EU, imposing CO2 tax upon the production from the third countries, adopting the EU directive on renewable resources, revision of the rules on green hydrogen, revoking the hourly accounting and etc.
“Even though there are certain challenges, our mood remains positive. Fertilizer industry sees many opportunities that would assist in retaining the production and contribute to the ability of the EU to provide food. There were no less than three presentations related to agriculture, therefore, it is obvious that this sector is significant not only at the EU, but at the local level as well. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to share the insights and discuss the most important future tendencies, in order to ensure sustainable and competitive business development in Jonava,” shared the presenter.
For more information visit: https://chamber.lt/naujienos/jonavoje-vyko-konferencija-jonavos-verslumo-identitetas/
