Business

ZAGREB, August 27, 2020 - Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic visited on Tuesday workers working on the reconstruction of the railway running from the Zagreb West Rail Station to Savski Marof. Minister Butkovic underscored that the project was a part of a large transport infrastructure investment cycle worth HRK 20 billion (approx. €2.67 bn), with work on the railway accounting for €1.5 billion of that amount. The reconstruction of the railway is worth HRK 366 million (excluding VAT), most of which is covered by a loan aproved by the World Bank, that is, the International Bank for Resconstruction and Development…

ZAGREB, August 27, 2020 - In June 2020, after three months of decline, the volume of construction work in Croatia grew by 8.5% on the year, according to the preliminary data of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) released on Thursday. The increase in the volume of construction work is the result of economic lockdown measures being lifted. The measures were put in place on March 19 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic and immediately caused the first decline in the volume of construction work since February 2018. The decline continued in April and May. After a substantial…

ZAGREB, August 27, 2020 - The Croatian government on Thursday approved a HRK 1.4 million programme whereby a jar of honey produced in Croatia will be given to every first grader this autumn. Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic recalled that this programme had been launched in December 2018, and covered all elementary schools throughout the country. To date, 828 schools with 72,002 pupils have been engaged in the implementation of the programme, and honey provided by 381 local beekeepers has been distributed to those schools. According to data by beekeepers, which were made public in 2019, Croatia has 8,000 apiarists and more than…

As Novac/Lidija Kiseljak/zupan.hr writes on the 27th of August, 2020, the Sisak-Moslavina County Development Agency is the holder of the PISMO (letter) project, the establishment of the business incubator in Novska, with partners in the Sisak-Moslavina County project and the Zagreb Development Agency. The value of the project stands at 20,293,944.35 kuna (with EU support amounting to 19,938,127.84 kuna), and it lasted from the 1st of September 2017 to the 1st of September 2019. In the selection for the best county project, this one, based in Novska, entered the finals in the Contribution to Entrepreneurship category. The Novska business incubator…

ZAGREB, Aug 26, 2020 - Plums are increasingly in demand in the EU, however, Croatia's results in growing this fruit oscillate, as plum growing is often affected by weather conditions as it was this year, hence imported plums are dominating the market, an analysis by the Smarter consulting company said on Wednesday. According to Smarter, which specializes in agriculture and food industry consulting, problems in the production of plums over the past few years have led to many large producers backing out of this business. Croatia's plum production has recorded significant oscillations in recent years, Smarter underscored, supporting its claims with figures saying…

ZAGREB, Aug 26, 2020 - Economy Minister Tomislav Coric said on Wednesday INA's decision to lay off 250 workers was a business decision, and that INA recently submitted a proposal to the Strategic Projects Commission to declare the Sisak biorefinery a strategic project. Asked by the press to comment on the announcement that 250 INA workers would lose their jobs, Coric said there was no satisfaction if people lost their jobs at the end of a process of transformation, but that INA's business decisions of several years ago were going in that direction. "The thing that we can express satisfaction about, is that the workers…

As Novac writes on the 25th of August, 2020, back at the end of July, a completely renovated Valamar Parentino Hotel 4 * (formerly known as the Valamar Hotel Zagreb) was opened in Porec, Istria, specialising in active and fun family holidays. The hotel boasts 329 accommodation units and in the peak season it can accommodate over 1,100 guests. It also employs about 140 employees. The investment in the Valamar Parentino Hotel worth an enormous 113 million kuna is the largest investment of the Imperial Riviera for 2020. Valamar Riviera is a leading Croatian travel company that manages the entire…

ZAGREB, Aug 25, 2020 - In April 2020, companies in Croatia borrowed HRK 10 billion to finance overheads or rollover loans, which was a record high borrowing in the last five years, Vecernji List daily said on Tuesday. At that time the COVID-19 pandemic halted the operations of almost one in five companies, notably those affected the most by social distancing, as a result of which their revenues in the first month of quarantine dropped over 90%. Due to the latent danger of the reactivation of the same or similar viruses, companies whose business requires close contact with clients will have to…

August the 25th, 2020 - Companies operating within Croatia have been hit hard by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its negative economic effects. Some, however, have managed to ride the storm better than others, and the Cakovec-based company LTH Alucast is one of them. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 24th of August, 2020, the Cakovec-based company LTH Alucast, owned by the Slovenian LTH Castings group, is expanding its already impressive production, for which they need new experts in the metallurgical profession. The company, which currently employs more than 220 workers, points out that the tender for new employees…

As Novac writes on the 23rd of August, 2020, the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association (Glas Udruga Poduzetnika) recently issued the warning that the subsidies for preserving jobs for businesses, issued as a welcome move by the Croatian Government as a packet of economic measures, haven't been paid for as many as two thirds of Croatian companies for July, and for some didn't even receive payments for June. "In the survey we conducted among our members, as many as 76 percent of them pointed out that they haven't yet received government support for July, while 8 percent of them haven't even…