“Croatia: a great opportunity for Italian companies”
05.08.2013
Massimo Sessa, Director of the ICE Regional Office in Zagreb outlines for Fieragricola Post the opportunities for Italian companies following Croatia's membership of the EU.
1 July 2013 was an historic date for Croatia. It is the day when Croatia became the 28th member state of the European Union. Yet, symbolically, it is also the watershed between the country's recent past, characterised by political instability and well-known conflicts costing the lives of tens of thousands of people, and the start of a new future. Without doubt a major turning point for Croatia but also a great opportunity for Italian agricultural companies.
"Trade flows with Italy will undoubtedly be stimulated following the elimination of customs barriers and duties and the simplification of controls," as explained toFieragricola Post by Massimo Sessa, Director of the ICE Regional Office (Foreign Trade Institute) in Zagreb. Italy is are already Croatia's first trading partner but there is still considerable local interest towards expanding this relationship not the least through mutual collaboration, such as the sharing of experience and joint production. We should not overlook the Croatia has a strong agricultural vocation, with products of surprisingly high quality, especially olive oil, wine and fruit and vegetables."
Agriculture is by no means a negligible segment for Croatia. 10.9% of the national workforce (the total population is 4.2 million inhabitants, according to the 2011 Census) is involved in agriculture, compared to a European average of 5%. The fragmentation of the local primary sector, characterised by a large number of small family farms (63% of the total of 177 thousand registered companies in 2010) and major cooperative enterprises until now did not allow Croatian agriculture to generate adequate profits, thereby making only a modest contribution to the country's GDP.
Trade, but not only. Opportunities for Italian companies will range across other fronts. "For agricultural machinery, Croatia will be another peak market," the ICE Director pointed out. We have seen this in recent years, with the stronger penetration achieved by certain large Italian companies into the country: expansion into the Balkans for Italian machinery builders will pass precisely through Croatia."
Another interesting frontier will be farm tourism, one of Italy's fields of excellence that seems to be standing up well to the recession. "Zagreb has clearly grasped the potential of this business, a relatively new market for the country with impressive margins for expansion, given local geographic features," Massimo Sessa concluded. On its part, Italy can provide in-depth know-howbased on our excellence in this sector, even by starting twinning projects and increasing tourist flows."
Source: Fieragricola Observatory
