March 24, 2022 - The new edition of the educational eco-project "Dukatići preserve forests and nature" is an upgrade of the long-standing project "I LOVE MILK!'', where Dukat teaches Croatian schoolchildren about forest protection and announces the planting of 10,000 tree seedlings.

On the occasion of World Forest Day and World Water Day, Dukat presented a new edition of the educational eco-project "Dukatići protect forests and nature", this way Dukat teaches Croatian schoolchildren in an interactive way about the importance of caring for forests and the environment, reports Telegram.hr.

The project is enriched with new content related to the preservation of forests and the rich forest world and consists of short educational stories on the website Dukatići preserve nature. Each story ends with a quiz, and students who successfully solve them receive a diploma and a memory game as a gift that arrives at their home address. With this, the students join the curious company of Dukatić - the conservationist, which has almost 4,000 members after last year's first edition. Under the auspices of the Ministries of Science and Education, this year's project is supported by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, and the project partners are Croatian Forests and Bioteka, an association for the promotion of biology and related sciences.

''I love milk! A forest will sprout from children's works! 1 participant = 1 tree'' (Dukat Hrvatska/Facebook)

“After motivating students in the previous edition of the project to separate waste and change habits that have a positive impact on environmental protection, we are now turning their attention to the green lungs of the Earth. I believe that it is our children who will very soon initiate great changes in this area and I am glad that we can contribute to this in this way while educating and entertaining them at the same time", said prof. Kristina Duvnjak, vice president of the Bioteka association and head of the education program.

This year's project "Dukatići preserve forests and nature" is a continuation of the project "I LOVE MILK!", another educational and socially responsible initiative of Dukat in which more than 7,300 students participated this fall, and in the past ten years 40,000 lower grade students. The contest "I LOVE MILK!" marks the tenth anniversary, and members of the expert jury and the audience on the Dukat Facebook profile have selected the ten best works of art of the forest, and the authors were awarded by Dukat.

The winner projects. (Dukat Hrvatska/Facebook)

"The forest, as the topic of the tenth art competition and the second edition of Dukatić, additionally connected these two projects: students first drew forests, now Dukat teaches Croatian schoolchildren how to protect and love them, and by planting 10,000 seedlings we show their concrete contribution to forest fund renewal. We are happy that every year about 400 primary schools participate in our initiatives, which are slowly becoming an integral part of additional classes when it comes to environmental protection or art creation", said Kristina Klarić Rubčić, Head of Corporate Communications at Dukat.

Another link with the ten-year anniversary and the theme of both projects is the planting of 10,000 tree seedlings that Dukat, in cooperation with Croatian Forests, will plant this spring in Gorski Kotar and the surroundings of Velika Gorica.

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ZAGREB, 16 March 2022 - Dukat continues to increase the buy-up price of milk from its sub-contractors, which will go up by HRK 0.15 per litre as of 1 April and by an additional HRK 0.10 as of 1 May, the Zagreb-based dairy company stated on Wednesday.

In addition to the increases in the price for purchased milk in January and March, the aggregate rise will be HRK 0.50 per litre, Dukat's director Duško Glišić, said, according to a press release.

Dukat says it is aware of difficulties faced by small farms due to the higher input costs and disturbances on the global food market, and although it itself is under pressure from increasing input costs, it will do its utmost to help its sub-contractors in milk production.

Dukat noted that Croatia is not self-sufficient in primary milk production.

"We acknowledge the efforts by the government and the relevant ministry to help farmers, and we urge the authorities to make additional efforts to help preserve the primary milk production," Glišić was quoted as saying.

Dukat buys up milk in 15 counties and cooperates with 1,600 producers, half of whom are small milk farms.

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ZAGREB, July 22, 2020 - The Dukat company is willing to buy up milk from Meggle contract farmers, the Zagreb-based company stated on Wednesday after recently Meggle announced that it would shut down its plant in Osijek.

Dukat recalls that it cooperates with more than 2,000 small, medium and big milk producers throughout Croatia.

"The milk production in Slavonia must not cease," says Dukat. 

The decision made by Meggle Croatia prompted Agriculture Minister Marija Vuckovic and local authorities to hold a meeting with Meggle executives on Tuesday. After the meeting, the minister reassured contract farmers in the Osijek area that the buying up of their dairy products would continue.

Vuckovic said that all 280 contract farmers of Meggle Croatia should rest assured that the buying up of their products would continue. The 280 contract farmers have between 25,000 and 26,000 kilos of milk for sale. Dukat's representatives also attended the meeting.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of March, 2020, in addition to its regular donations to charities across the country, Zagreb's Dukat, the largest food donor in the Republic of Croatia, is also introducing an extraordinary donation worth a massive 225,000 kuna for Zagreb citizens affected by the earthquake and by the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.

Dukat, a large and well respected Croatian company has responded to the emerging needs for donations owing to the coronavirus epidemic and the earthquake that hit Zagreb and the surrounding area this week in a praiseworthy manner that many other companies across the country would do well to follow. 

The company will introduce extraordinary product donations to Caritas Croatia. In addition to its regular donations, which it has been organising and seeing through since back in 2015, Dukat will make an extraordinary donation of 30,000 litres of milk over three consecutive months, totalling, as previously stated, 225,000 kuna.

Donations will be distributed to citizens who are the highest risk during the coronavirus epidemic, but also to citizens who have suffered material damage in the recent Zagreb earthquakes which rocked the capital.

Despite the difficult circumstances and the significantly increased workload, Dukat's logistics is continuing to successfully transport its donated goods to all parts of the country on a very regular basis.

Dukat's role as a leader in food donation in Croatia has been confirmed for two years in a row with it having won the "Donor" award. Dukat earned its last recognition as the largest single food donor in Croatia back in 2018, when it donated 192 tonnes of dairy products, equal to a quarter of all donated food in the Republic of Croatia.

The award was given to Dukat in April 2019 at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.

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A major foreign acquisition involving one very well known Croatian company - Zagreb's Dukat.

As Vedran Marjanovic/Novac writes on the 25th of June, 2019, the French company Lactalis, the owner of the Croatian company Dukat and the world's largest milk and dairy producer, have completed the take over of the Italian cheese producer Nuova Castelli in a purchase of which all the details are not yet known to the public.

After Lactalis and its recent owner of eighty percent of the shares of Italy's Nuova Castelli, the British fund Charterhouse Capital Partners have announced the signing of a share purchase agreement which involves Croatia's Dukat, it is now expected that the Italian regulatory authorities will issue all of the necessary approvals for the acquisition to be fully realised.

''We're stepping up our leadership in the distribution of cheeses on international markets where we're already a leading player in more than 140 countries,'' a statement read, very briefly detailing the conclusion of the contract of the aforementioned British fund, which, in spite of refusing to reveal the total amount of this likely hefty transaction, stated that when negotiating with Lactalis, advisers were hired from Rotschild, the French bank Credit Agricole, and the Simmons&Simmons lawyer from London, United Kingdom.

Nuova Castelli is otherwise the largest Italian manufacturer and trader for cheeses, including Parmigiano Reggiano cheeses, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, Gorgonzola and Taleggios, with a more than enviable annual income of 460 million euros. The company operates in thirteen manufacturing locations across Italy and also boasts three plants outside of that country.

When Britain's Charterhouse took over five years ago, the previous owners of that Italian company was paid a massive 350 million euros.

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