ZAGREB, 3 March 2022 - The value of construction work done in Croatia in 2021 by companies with more than 20 employees increased by 13.8% from 2020, while the value of new orders was 21.1% higher, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Thursday.

The value of construction work was HRK 30.3 billion, of which 21.7 billion accounted for work done by own workers and 8.5 billion for work carried out by subcontractors. The value of new orders was HRK 25.9 billion.

By type of construction performed by own workers, 28.6% of work-related to non-residential buildings, 34.6% to transport infrastructures, such as roads and bridges, 17.8% to pipelines and 16.1% to residential buildings.

In the last quarter of 2021, the value of construction work totaled HRK 8 billion, increasing by 8.2% from the same period of 2020, while the value of new orders rose by 23.9% to HRK 6.6 billion.

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ZAGREB, 2 March 2022 - Engineers' pay should be increased by 30 to 50 percent, and in addition to the already imported 30,000 foreign workers, the Croatian construction sector still lacks 20,000 workers, an event marking Croatian Engineers Day was told in Zagreb on Wednesday.

This year's Engineers Day was devoted to long-term plans to make the engineering profession more competitive on both the domestic and global markets. The focus was on untapped national resources and on what the domestic STEM industry can do to put them in the service of sustainable development.

Zdravko Jurčec, head of the Croatian Engineering Association, which organised the event, said that the earthquakes that had struck the country two years ago had shown the importance of having domestic knowledge to deal with such emergencies. "Now we are facing a critical period for economic recovery, which will be a major challenge for the Croatian engineering profession," he said.

"It's regrettable that none of the competent institutions has wondered what the emigration of engineers means, how much this drain of STEM resources has cost us and how to slow or neutralise these unwanted processes," Jurčec said.

He stressed that engineers' pay should be increased by at least 30 to 50 per cent and that in addition to about 30,000 workers already imported, the construction sector still lacked about 20,000 workers.

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February 11, 2021 – The total untapped export potential of Croatian mechanical engineering machinery and equipment production is a staggering $399.8 million, according to an analysis by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce

The total untapped export potential of Croatian mechanical engineering machinery and equipment is 399.8 million US dollars, according to an analysis by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) as part of the Fit4Globe project.

According to this analysis, the Croatian mechanical engineering groups with the greatest export potential are parts for gas turbines and turbojet engines, parts of machines and devices for lifting, moving and construction works, parts for air pumps, compressors and fans, agricultural machines for use in harvesting, valves for temperature control and parts for internal combustion devices.

The analysis dealt in detail with 12 Croatian mechanical engineering products. 10 were chosen specifically because they hold unused export potential and two were chosen for their importance to domestic Croatian mechanical engineering. The untapped export potential of these Croatian mechanical engineering products exists in 34 countries, in the total amount of 127.8 million US dollars. The realization of the full potential of these Croatian mechanical engineering exports would increase by more than one-third, or 37.2 percent.

634 companies operate in the Croatian mechanical engineering sector of machinery and equipment manufacture. As much as 94 percent of them are small and medium-sized enterprises. They employ a total of 11,400 workers, generate HRK 7.7 billion in revenue (4.4 percent of the gross value of the manufacturing industry), and their annual profit is HRK 337 million. With a total of $1.22 billion in exports, they make up 6.6 of Croatia's total foreign trade.

Currently, the leading export markets for Croatian machinery are Germany with a share of 21.5 percent, Slovenia with a share of 12.5 percent and Austria with a share of 8.5 percent.

In response to the findings, the President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Luka Burilović, pointed out that by exploiting the full potential, the total export of Croatian mechanical engineering machines and devices would increase by almost a third (32.6 percent) from the current 1.22 billion US dollars, which is 6.6 percent of total exports.

"The markets most likely to increase exports are Germany, Italy, the United States and Hungary," said Burilovic, while the president of the Metalworking Industry Association Zeljko Mazuran said that the biggest challenge for the industry is the need for greater and faster investment in plant modernization. He attributed a lack of investment to an unfavourable monetary policy, an unrealistic exchange rate of the kuna against world currencies and the low level of technological processes, industry retardation being compounded by a lack of educated metalworking workers.

According to financial reports submitted for last year, the five largest exporters of Croatian mechanical engineering parts and machines generated approximately 40 percent of total revenues in the foreign market within their sector. The top 10 largest exporters accounted for almost 50 percent.

The world market in the production of machines and devices is dominated by the USA, which in 2019, along with China and Germany, was also the leading global exporter. These three countries are also the largest importers of machinery and equipment. In the European Union, along with Germany, the largest producer is Italy.