The production of long-life milk in Montenegro would not be profitable, and the machines in the "Zora" dairy in Beran are outdated and can only be sold as scrap metal.
This is the essence of the answer that "Vijesti" received from the "Lazine" dairy, which eight years ago privatized the "Zora" dairy, primarily intended for the production of long-term milk and built with international donations.
"Vijesti" asked the management of "Lazina" questions regarding the fate of the Beran dairy and the eventual possibility of starting the production of long-life milk after the packaging of their long-life milk appeared again on the shelves of Montenegrin retail chains, from the declaration of which it can be concluded that it is for the needs of this company produces and fills in Leskovac.
In Lazin, they claim that starting the UHT line in Berane was not even part of their business plan in the privatization process, and that, they say, for two reasons.
"The first reason is the economic unsustainability of the production of the UHT program on the Montenegrin market, because in order for said production to be profitable, it is necessary to process 50.000 liters of raw milk on average per day. If you take into account the fact that the current daily purchase of all Montenegrin dairies in Montenegro is about 70.000 liters of raw milk, it is obvious that currently Montenegro does not have enough raw material for the mentioned business venture", replied the "Lazine" dairy.
Another reason, they add, is the technical and technological obsolescence of the equipment in the "Zora" dairy.
"Unfortunately for us, the equipment is still in the dairy and despite our efforts and commitment, we cannot sell it except for some waste".
They explain that when buying the "Zora" dairy, they were guided by the need to organize the purchase of raw materials from the north of Montenegro in a better way than before, as well as to produce cheeses and two types of cream, items that they had not produced before.
"Our dairy buys raw materials from subcontractors from the areas of Petnjica, Rožaj, Beran, Bijelo Polje, Tuza, Podgorica, Nikšić and Danilovgrad, as well as from other cheesemakers and dairies from Montenegro when they buy milk from subcontractors from Montenegro and cannot sell finished products. We buy from other dairies and cheesemakers exclusively because we want to preserve domestic milk producers (farmers), and therefore processors who have less capacity, because without domestic purchase they would not be able to function. "Without Montenegrin farmers, there is no Montenegrin dairy industry," says the "Lazine" dairy.
In 2019, that dairy bought 2.860.000 liters of raw milk from the municipalities of Petnjica, Rožaja, Beran and Bijelo Polje, and in that period 1.043.796 liters were processed in the Zora dairy.
They claim that the production of long-term milk in Leskovac under the company "Lazine" was started in order to preserve the purchase of milk in Montenegro in the winter period and thereby stimulate the work of farmers.
"There is no business connection between the sale of UHT products under the Lazine dairy brand and the purchase of the Zora dairy. As for the UHT program (long shelf life milk), it was created as a result of the desire to save milk producers (farmers). Namely, dairy farming is a seasonal activity, where the demand for dairy products in the winter period is much lower than in the summer period. Therefore, in the winter period, it is not easy, or impossible, to process and sell all raw materials from our subcontractors (farmers).
In order not to exclude them from the purchase system, and therefore probably stop their milk production, we were forced to look for a solution for the surplus of raw milk, and that's when we got in touch with Mljekara Leskovac and agreed to send them the surplus of raw milk, and to they produce the UHT program”.
The dairy "Zora" was donated by developed members of the European Union and was supposed to promote the employment of citizens who were deported from Luxembourg at that time.
When it was built, it was necessary to show as many milking parlors as possible. Thus, the fake census resulted in a figure of eleven thousand, while precise calculations said that neither then nor now in the territory of the Beran municipality there were no more than three thousand cows.
The false parameters were crucial and significantly influenced the Luxembourg government to develop the Mednem project - the development of dairy farming in the north-east of Montenegro. The backbone of the project was the "Zora" dairy, with a total daily capacity of fifty thousand liters of milk, or seven to eight thousand liters per hour, and the Government of Luxembourg donated more than 10 million euros...
The dairy also had several purchase centers spread across the north-east of the country, for which it is not known today how and where they ended up. Those shopping centers were built according to the most modern European standards, and it is certain that they were worth a lot. For those in the village of Štitari, it is known that it was stolen.
Unrealistically designed, the only long-term milk factory in the country worked with minimal capacity, and already at the beginning of 2010, production had to stop due to large losses and owing money to farmers for raw materials, as well as constant breakdowns on the second-hand and complicated UHT line.
The first privatization attempt failed, and in the fall of 2012 it was sold for 250.000 euros to the company "Šimšić Lazine". The government sold so much of its 99,5 percent share package that the Luxembourg donors transferred its ownership.
The government then undertook to repay the factory's debt of over eight hundred and fifty thousand euros.
The big robbery of a foreign donation intended for the milk factory "Zora" in Berane was never completely solved, and only a foreign citizen, the Scotsman Tom Hodge, was responsible for malfeasance and abuse and was sentenced to a year in prison, while his domestic logistics remained unexposed to this day.
The Minister of Agriculture at the time, Milutin Simović, had a habit of saying that "the enemies are not letting the dawn break" when the media wrote about various breakdowns, problems and milk spillage in the Beran dairy.
Of the big story and megalomaniacal plans for the "Zora" brand, today only a sign with that name remains on the metal gate of the factory area. And the rising sun on the packaging of long-life milk from Leskovac.
There is no "Dawn" because it is forgotten and unrecognizable
The "Lazine" dairy says that there is no production on the Montenegrin market under the "Zora" brand because they came to the conclusion after examining the market that it is forgotten and unrecognizable.
"In the dairy 'Zora' AD, sliced cheese, small cheese, ethnic cream and young cream are produced under the brand Mljekare Lazine. Business logic dictated that the products produced in the Zora Dairy are better sold under the Lazine dairy brand than under the Zora Dairy brand, because at the time of purchase and restarting the production process in the Zora Dairy, market analysis said that the "Zora Dairy" brand was forgotten and unrecognizable on the market".
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