TOP ESTONIAN ENTERPRISES

The Most Competitive Enterprise 2009
Mazeikiu Nafta
Trading House OÜ
The Most Competitive
Trading Enterprise
2009
Fighting
against
value-added
tax frauds
At first glance it could seem that the
annual sales of one company reaches
almost 8 billion kroons. But while facing
the facts this is the company selling
the fuel. Estonia has enough cars
and last year economic recession had
no such impact – the sale of billions
seems like a logical continuation.
Tõnu Ääro, the manager of Mazeikiu
Nafta Trading House, states that in
addition to the record sales the numbers
of volume were also the largest
in the history of MNTH.
The numbers are only one, but certainly the important
side of the business activities. In addition
to that the fighting against the tax frauds at
the fuel market and supporting the youth sport
from the social side is today important, as Tõnu
Ääro talks about in the following interview.
To sum up, the company’s manager assesses
the last year as very good. The people spent
more, the transport companies worked well and
also the general economic situation was good
for the most of the year. The impact of economic
recession could be perceived with the fall in
consumption for MNTH in the last months of
the year, but the major event of the year was
though the abrupt fall in the prices of the world
market which started in the second half of July
and continued up to the end of the year. The fall
in price rather increased temporarily the consumption
in the face of the braking economic
growth. “To sum up, this was our record year!
This year we got no such good sales numbers
and we do not view our activities from the position
of sales. Last year the sales reached
though 8 billion kroons, but this year the total
sales will be maybe 3-4 billion. We view the volume
in tons, not in cash numbers. The ton of
petrol cost earlier for example considerably
more than 1000 dollars, today though 500-600
dollars. The prices have fallen by a half, the sale
also decreases, but the margins remained last
year still good. In the current conditions we are
forced to change our strategies to remain
somehow in the competition in the face of the
decreasing consumption and spoilt fuel market,”Ääro
states.
There is a special situation with the sales in
Estonia. But this year the rise in value-added
tax was established with the super short time,
the state has not been able to stop the VAT
frauds at the fuel market existent for already
long time. The Oil Association connecting the
major fuel companies has pursued to draw the
attention of different state instances to this
problem to finally liquidate the economically
damaging situation for both the state and honest
entrepreneurs and adopt the amendments
of law regarding the changing of the taxation of
selling in the excise warehouses of liquid fuels.
Ääro thinks that no one seems to be interested
in this.
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