In TLM, they must understand that there is no longer a privileged relationship

After some Croatian media began reporting that the Mostar Aluminium is not fulfilling its obligations to TLM regarding metal supply, this company decided to share its side of the story. They assess such reports as arbitrary speculations, without delving into the essence of the factual situation and without offering their side in this story.

Aluminium claims that it has never, nor does it intend to, deny TLM the quantities of metal for which obligations will be settled, but in accordance with their reduced production capabilities until the end of the current year, which they have reported to all buyers including TLM.

They state that starting from August 1 of this year, Aluminium d.d. Mostar has no further obligations to Hrvatska elektroprivreda nor to any of the organizational units of the Light Metal Factory from Šibenik, as their mutual tripartite agreement has expired. Thus, they say, the frameworks of previously agreed relationships between the mentioned companies have ceased to apply, and now objective laws of market business bind them, apart from the traditionally good long-term cooperation.

– HEP has, in accordance with the mentioned agreement, supplied us with 100 MWh/h of electricity monthly for years, based on which we ensured the corresponding quantity of metal for TLM, and it is now irrelevant who was privileged in that relationship and who was exploited, although we would have something to say about that as well. With the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU, new provisions in economic relations were established, and Aluminium was informed that the mentioned tripartite cooperation could not survive within the existing frameworks, after which we issued a public call for the purchase of those 100 MWh/h of electricity and, of course, we requested an offer from HEP, which unfortunately neglected all of this and surprisingly poorly assessed the consequences of its decision, delivering us the least favorable offer. The most favorable one came from the Slovenian company GEN-I, with which we signed a contract, and we have fully and timely settled all our obligations to HEP, finally releasing four million euros that we had to have pledged throughout the duration of the tripartite agreement, which greatly complicated our business – they state in Aluminium.

In Aluminium, they emphasize that they now pay for electricity in advance and therefore require all their buyers to pay for delivery in advance.

– TLM cannot and will not be an exception because there is no economic justification for that, and without it, there is no legal coverage for creating privileged relationships with any of the business partners – they say in Aluminium, emphasizing that ‘colleagues from the management bodies of TLM’ must understand that they have equal business conditions as any other company.

In this regard, they continue in Aluminium, no one prevents them from seeking another supplier if they find more favorable cooperation conditions.

– We especially urge them, instead of consciously distorting facts in public statements, as well as in communication with the Government of the Republic of Croatia, and obvious attempts to shift the burden of responsibility onto others, lately usually onto Aluminium’s shoulders, to turn to changes in their business practices that will enable them to settle obligations regularly, procure raw materials, and ensure the safety of their employees. Finally, we consider the attempts of clearly recognizable political subterfuge to be extremely malicious, constantly emphasizing the 12 percent share of the Government of the Republic of Croatia in the ownership structure of Aluminium, within the context of the relationship between Mostar and Šibenik. Croatia, undoubtedly, since the renewal of our work, exercises its management rights through its representatives in the Supervisory Board and at the Shareholders’ Assembly, but it cannot influence the way we sell our raw materials to any of the buyers – it is stated further.

They conclude that Aluminium will not allow itself to be the subject of any speculation nor the usual scapegoat and target of accusations from those who are unable to bear the burden of responsibility for actions they have taken or, on the other hand, have not taken in time.