ZAGREB, 31 Aug, 2021 - An analysis of the Croatian Finance Agency (Fina) shows that in 2020, the businesses registered in Split-Dalmatia County had a consolidated net profit of HRK 571.3 million, down by 27% compared to 2019.

In terms of the total revenue in 2020, the Split-based Tommy retail chain topped the ranking with HRK 3.2 billion, and the Omiš-based Stuidenac ranked second, HRK 1.9 billion, and they were followed by the Vrgorac-based Pivac meat processing company, HRK 1.6 billion.

Last year, there were 15,308 businesses with their headquarters in Split-Dalmatia County.

Highest profit in 2020 made by sports betting company

Of them, the company with the highest profit was the Dugopolje-headquartered Hattrick-PSK bookmaker, HRK 242.1 million.

It was followed by the two shipbuilding companies, Brodotrogir (HRK 152.9 million) and Brodosplit (HRK 146.2 million)

Considering the number of employees on the payrolls of all those 15,308 businesses, the employed labour force was downsized by 2.8% from 2019 to reach 79,085 in 2020.

Tommy was the biggest employer, with nearly 3,000 people on its payroll. Studenac employed 2,456  workers in 2020.

According to Fina's data, last year, the total revenues earned by the businesses in this southern county came to HRK 48.5 billion, down by 8.4%, their expenditures were cut by 7.8% to HRK 47.5 billion.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 12 April, 2021 - The volume of retail trade in the EU rose in February 2021 the most in Belgium, Austria and Croatia, while on average Europeans shopped less, shows a Eurostat report released on Monday.

In February 2021, the volume of retail trade in the EU dropped by 2.2% compared to February 2020. In January it was down 4.5%.

The euro area, too, saw a year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade of 2.9%, after a 5.2% drop in January.

In both the EU and the euro area the volume of retail trade dropped the most for automotive fuels, by 11.9% and 13% respectively.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products dropped significantly as well, by 4% in the EU and by 5.5% in the euro area, the exception being the volume of trade for mail and internet orders, which jumped by 37.9% in the EU and by 37.3% in the euro area.

In February Europeans bought more only food, drinks and tobacco products, as evidenced by a year-on-year increase of the volume of retail trade of 1.8% in the EU and 1.9% in the euro area.

Belgium, Austria, Croatia report highest increases

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, Portugal saw the biggest year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade, of 15.4%.

It was followed by Slovakia and Malta with declines of 14.7% and 8.9% respectively.

The biggest year-on-year increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Belgium, of 11%, followed by Austria, with an increase of 5.2% and Croatia, an increase of 5.1%.

In January 2021 Croatia saw a year-on-year 0.9% increase in the volume of retail trade.

Signs of recovery

The seasonally-adjusted volume of retail trade in the EU grew in February by 2.9% compared to January, when it dropped by 4.6%.

In the euro area it went up by 3% from January, when it dropped by 5.2%.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products grew the most in both the EU and the euro area, by 6.2% and 6.8% respectively, after it went down at the start of the year.

The volume of retail trade for automotive fuels recovered as well, by 2.4% in the EU and 3.7% in the euro area.

The volume of retail trade dropped on the month only for food and tobacco products and drinks, by 0.8% in the EU and 1.1% in the euro area.

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, the biggest monthly increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Austria, of 28.2%.

It was followed by Slovenia and Italy, with a 16.4% and an 8.4% increase in the volume of retail trade.

In Croatia the volume of retail trade in February grew 4.4% from January, when it rose by 3.4%.

Monthly drops in the volume of retail trade were reported by Malta (-1.5%), France (-1.2%), Hungary (-1.2%), Portugal (-0.7) and Finland (-0.4).

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ZAGREB, 29 January, 2021 -  Retail sales in Croatia in December 2020 fell by 3.2% compared to December 2019, falling for the tenth month in a row and even faster than in November, the State Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Friday.

According to seasonally adjusted data, consumption in December contracted by 0.8% compared to November and by 3.2% compared to December 2019.

Impacted by the coronavirus crisis, it was the tenth month in a row that retail sales had declined, after registering a contraction of 0.7% in November.

Retail sales of non-food products in December, excluding motor oils and lubricants, fell by 5.5% on the year, while sales of food, beverages and tobacco products increased by 4.7%.

Retail trade for the entire year fell by 5.8% in real terms.

Recession continues

The continued contraction in retail sales in December was due to weak personal consumption in the current coronavirus crisis.

The drop in consumption is one of the leading causes of recession as personal consumption is the largest component of gross domestic product (GDP).

Year on year, GDP plunged by a record 15.4% in Q2 2020 and by 10% in Q3 2020.

Restrictive measures imposed at the end of November to contain the second wave of the coronavirus infection had a negative impact on the economy in Q4 too, with the recession continuing in that quarter as well.

The Croatian fruits and vegetables are being sold through the FinotekaDostava.com website, in order to successfully cut out the middleman.

As Miroslav Kuskunovic/Agrobiz/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of April, 2019, Croatian fruit and vegetable producers, as well the producers of other Croatian value-added products, have begun to use the benefits of the common EU (single) market and the ability to place and sell products in Austria and Slovenia, for now. On the FinotekaDostava.com website, customers from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria are able to order products from Croatian OPGs from the comfort of their own homes. Once ordered, the produce is freshly and carefully packed and delivered to their addresses directly from Croatia.

"Finoteka's specificity is that we don't store our fruit and vegetables, but we function with the ''from the field to the table within 24 hours'' principle. This literally means that some fruit or vegetables that are growing right now in a garden in Croatia are going to be sent out in package delivered to someone's doorstep in Vienna, Ljubljana or Zagreb the next day,'' said Hrvoje Kolman, the owner of Finoteka Dostava.

Kolman has been placing and selling products from Croatian OPGs since back in 2008 in this manner. However, his website first became the most well known a few years ago when, through his search engine, a huge amount of fruit from the Neretva Valley ended up being sold and sent throughout Croatia when a ban on exports of agricultural products to Russia from the EU was first introduced.

"Our delivery is as good on the islands as it is on the mainland. The quality of the service and the delivery speed is the same regardless of whether you live in the city or in the most remote place. All our fruit and vegetable packages arrive within 24 hours of harvest, whether you're in Croatia, Slovenia, or anywhere in Austria,'' says Kolman. He explained that the Austrian market has been being tested over recent months, while they have been present on the Slovenian market for more than a year now.

"We deliver about 100 packages per month to Slovenia. Asparagus have been doing well these days, and strawberries, cherries and other fruits and vegetables will begin soon,'' says Kolman.

The prices of Croatian quality products are, however, slightly lower than those on sale in Slovenia and Austria, which is why it is expected that such sales from Croatia could become very attractive indeed. Croatian farmers deliver their products to Finoteka, the products are carefully reviewed, and depending on the order, they're packed on that same day and then sent out. Croatian farmers get to cut out the middleman, and consumers don't have the worry of eating food which is of unknown origin, it's also GMO free, it hasn't been stored, and it hasn't been sprayed.

"It's very important for us to know who we're cooperating with. We choose good producers above all, those to whom agriculture isn't just a business but also a pleasure. We choose those whose eyes shine when they talk about their products. Finding and selecting such people is are biggest challenge," says Kolman.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for more information on Croatian products, Croatian companies and OPGs, Croatian services and much more.

Click here for the original article by Miroslav Kuskunovic/Agrobiz on Poslovni Dnevnik

Get your wallets and credit cards ready as something new opens its doors Sesvete near the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, breathing life into an old building and potentially the local economy, too.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 17th of April, 2019, the brand new Five Star Outlet has officially opened its doors in the place of the former Europatrade building and has a great many leading international brands in its rich assortment.

Otherwise, Sesvete's new Five Star Outlet is the very first cosmetics outlet in the Republic of Croatia, covering 1200 square metres of space in total.

Customers from Sesvete and beyond will now be able to purchase products designed for all generations and all kinds of needs in just one place, and the assortment of offered items for sale in the new centre will be constantly changing and being updated so that all the necessary supplies can be obtained at the lowest possible price at any given time without any deteriorated quality in any of the available segments.

Sesvete's new shopping outlet will be the new home to very many hugely popular leading international brands such as Loreal, Nivea, Max Factor, Vileda, Make Up Revolution and Rossman, a high quality and extremely popular German brand that will be found for the first time on the shelves of some Croatian stores.

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