Slovpump Inc., a pump producer in Závadka nad Hronom, expects to break even on total sales worth 140 million Sk this year, meaning that the company has reversed last year's sluggish demand for its products. The company has penetrated the Egyptian and Syrian markets, where it sells pumps to sugar producers for irrigation systems and waste disposal equipment.
The firm is also currently developing contacts in the Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, where so far it has experienced no problems with collecting debts. Slovpump's sales to former USSR countries are currently 25 million Sk annually, which is only 10 percent of the company's pre-1989 annual turnover of 250 million Sk to this region. Although Slovpump's exports to the Czech Republic have declined substantially in recent years, that country continues to be the firm's largest customer, with 60 percent of production sold there.
9. Oct 1996 at 0:00 | From press reports of TASR and SITA