ZAGREB, 17 Feb 2022 - The DIV Group, a leading Croatian manufacturer of steel products, on Thursday welcomed the European Commission's decision to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in China.

Following the European Commission's publication of the relevant regulation in the Official Journal, the Zagreb-based group says that the anti-dumping duties will pave the way for fair competition and create an opportunity for the group to double its exports of standard bolts to above 60 million euros annually.

This will also allow further investment of €100 million annually, DIV said.

DIV recalled that the Commission initiated an investigation following a complaint lodged by the European Industrial Fasteners Institute on behalf of producers representing more than 25% of the total Union production of iron or steel fasteners about the dumped imports.

The complaint contained evidence of dumping and of resulting material injury that was sufficient to
justify the initiation of the investigation.

As a result of the investigation, the EC  published the regulation "imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain iron or steel fasteners originating in the People’s Republic of China."

DIV said that a similar regulation had been in force in 2013 and at the time the group had invested €55 million in its plants in the town of Knin and created about 500 jobs. The regulation was rescinded in 2016.

The new regulation is in place after six years of our efforts to maintain our status of a viable producer despite unfair competition, DIV said.

According to information on DIV's website, the Knin branch of DIV GROUP Ltd. is the largest bolt factory in the European Union, and its products are delivered to European countries, America and South Africa.

In Knin, the company has 23 production lines, 14 thread-rolling lines, 3 lines for the heat treatment of screw material with a capacity of 3 tons per hour each, 2 lines for surface protection by galvanizing with a capacity of about 5 tons per hour, and a semi-automatic packaging of bolts with secured transport communication by rail and road, according to DIV's website.

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August the 8th, 2021 - The number of Knin enterprises has increased by almost 30 percent in the last decade alone, which is excellent news for this otherwise often forgotten (at least economically) part of inland Dalmatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, in the ten-year period from 2011 to 2020, the number of Knin enterprises has increased from 76 to 98, marking an increase of 28.9 percent, according to data from the Financial Agency (Fina) presented on the occasion of the recent Victory Day. This celebration is traditionally and historically associated with Knin, where every year on August the 5th, the central celebration takes place.

During this period, the number of employees in Knin also increased, from 653 workers in 2011 to 684 in the previous year, which is a 4.7 percent increase. The total revenues generated by Knin enterprises during the observed period were the highest of all back in 2011, when they amounted to 429.2 million kuna, and the lowest in 2018 with 163.7 million kuna.

Throughout the observed period, Knin enterprises operated positively, with the highest net profit in the amount of 15.8 million kuna in 2020, even when compared to pre-pandemic 2019 when their net profit amounted to 12.1 million kuna, recording significant growth of 30.7 percent.

Compared to the result in the initially observed year, 2011, when the net profit amounted to 9.7 million kuna, the generated net profit in pandemic-dominated 2020 was higher by 63.2 percent for Knin enterprises.

The share of Knin enterprises back in 2020 in the number of companies headquartered in the wider Sibenik-Knin County stood at 3.7 percent, in terms of the number of employees, 5.5 percent, in terms of total revenues 3.4 percent, in terms of total expenses 3.4 percent, in profit periods 4.8 percent and in loss periods - 0.5 percent.

The average monthly net salary calculated for employees of Knin enterprises back in 2020 amounted to 4263 kuna and is 20.2 percent lower than the average monthly net salary calculated for employees of companies based in the wider Sibenik-Knin County, where it was 5342 kuna.

For comparison, the average monthly calculated net salary of employees in enterprises at the level of the whole of Croatia in 2020 amounted to 5,971 kuna and is higher by 40.1 percent than the average monthly net salary calculated of employees working for Knin enterprises, and is 11.8 percent higher than the average net salary of employees of companies based in Sibenik-Knin County.

According to the total revenues recorded back in 2020, the most successful companies in Knin are: Transport beton Lubina with 19 employees and 36.5 million kuna in total revenues and Efficient Powerful Successful with 248 employees and 36.3 million kuna in total revenues.

The company Transport beton Lubina was founded back in 2007 as a small family company, and today it has successfully spread throughout Croatia. It is engaged in the production, transport and delivery of concrete for tourist, residential, business and energy facilities. Efficient Powerful Successful, on the other hand, is engaged in the production of metal structures and their accompanying parts.

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