Supplier of the Year 2009 award goes to Pelhřimov

26 Oct. 2010 | CzechInvest, AFI | Agrostroj Pelhřimov wins thanks its conclusion of a contract with Chikusui Canycom.

Agrostroj Pelhřimov won the Investor of the Year 2009 award in the Supplier of the Year category this evening for concluding a contract with Chikusui Canycom, a Japanese manufacturer of professional-grade mowers. The company received the award during the celebratory announcement of the results of the Investor of the Year 2009 competition, which took place today at 7:00 p.m. at the Cloister of St. Agnes of Bohemia on the bank of the Vltava River in Prague. The competition is traditionally organised by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the event.

The two companies – Agrostroj and Chikusui Canycom – were brought together by CzechInvest two years ago. CzechInvest had first presented in detail to the Japanese manufacturer 15 Czech firms registered in the agency’s unique database of suppliers. Representatives of Chikusui Canycom subsequently selected five potential partners with which they met personally.

After a series of tenders and personal meetings, in 2009 the company signed a contract with Agrostroj on production of large, professional-grade grass and brush mowers. “Chikusui Canycom decided to partially localise production and assembly of finished machines for Europe in the region of Central Europe due to the high transportation costs of complete machines,” explains Jaroslav Habáň, business director of Agrostroj Pelhřimov.

The total value of the contract is CZK 117 million. Professional-grade mowers for Europe should roll of the production lines in Pelhřimov in three years. In total, Agrostroj plans to manufacture up to one thousand units annually with a retail price of approximately CZK 250,000.

Investor of the Year is a competition organised each year by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry of Trade in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment. The general partner of this year’s Investor of the Year competition is the ČEZ Group; the partners are ČSOB, the National Gallery, QUIX and Zátiší Catering. The media partners of the event are Euro, Z1, E15 and Strategie.

The competing investment projects are evaluated by a committee composed of representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the AFI, CzechInvest and previous winners. For the first time this year, the celebratory announcement of the winners was realised in conjunction with the announcement of the results of the Business Property of the Year competition.