S U P P O R T E D B Y T H E C R O A T I A N C H A M B E R O F E C O N O M Y

pvpvinternationalinternationalCroatian Business & Finance WeeklyEstablished in 1953Monday / 22nd November / 2010Year IV / No 0131www.privredni.hr

Roko Markovina, Faculty of Naval ArchitectureShutting big shipyards would cause chaos with many workers losing their jobsINTERVIEW

PAGE 4

Military as economic factorBarracks for entrepreneursCroatian military industry exports totalled €90.4 million in 2009MILITARY IECONOMICS

PAGE S 2 -3

Cargo centre, ZagrebDugo Selo becomesa container town changing the logistics of South-Eastern EuropeTRANSPORT

PAGE 5

FUNDING FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION

MILLIONS FOR RISKIER INVESTMENTFive new risk capital funds will increase investment potential of new projects to €20 million

20102010

Krešimir Sočković

By the end of this year, five new risk capital funds will be formed that will

handle €170 to €200 million intended for investing into the share capital of companies. This ten-fold increase of venture capi-tal investment into Croatia will benefit the Croatian economy, which lacks capital. Moreover bank finance is becoming more expensive and too difficult to obtain. Currently, Nexus FGS, Quaestus Private Equity II, Al-ternative Private Equity FGS, Prosperus FGS and Honestas Private Equity FGS are in the process of being established. The funds are formed at the initiative of the government in co-opera-tion with private investors, since the government will provide matched funding for economic co-operation on a “one-for-one” basis with private investors, ex-clusively on a commercial basis and without political influence. Similar projects, such the Israeli Yozma and the British Capital for Enterprise have shown to be a good method of boosting the economy. The first investment in companies should take place during the first quarter of 2011 and the priority rate of return to investors should amount to 8%

per year. Potential users of the funds will be companies from the energy sector, re-cycling, IT and infrastructure, and some of the funds will be allocated for con-solidating companies in certain sectors.

Timeless and above politicsThe president of the Croatian private equity and venture capi-tal association, Mirna Marović, points out that similar projects throughout the world have been very successful. Other countries’ experience have shown that for each unit of currency invested in a specific company, a further five units from other sources can be pooled, says Mirna Marović. Marko Marek, board member of Nexus Private Equity Partners, says these funds basically func-tion by securing fresh capital and liquidity and their goal is to motivate potential private inves-tors and banks to reinvest in the economy.However, only companies which offer competitive advantages and are able to grow fast, can count on this money. Until now, funds has been used for helping unsuccessful companies on the market, whilst the new meas-ure for boosting the economy is “timeless and above politics”. Moreover, decisions on investing

in companies will be exclusive-ly based on market principles, points out Marek. Private equity and venture capital funds were crucial for founding many big companies (Microsoft, FedEx). It can be expected that banks will cover the investment of risk capital funds with an additional €0.5 to €0.7 billion, which could

boost the total amount of invest-ment to €1 billion. If the initia-tive of funding for economic co-operation and the development of venture capital investment succeeds, the Croatian economy could well start to rise during the interim period at an increasingly higher growth rate than experts anticipate.

2

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COUNSELLOR, INTERNATION-AL OPERATIONS, LANGUAGE EDITORRay Fletcherfletcher@privredni.hr

Privredni vjesnikYear IV No 0131

PETAR ZEKAN, OWNER, CENTAR KONZULTANATA

VIEWPOINTVIEWPOINT

Small entrepreneurs need consultantsThe most common problems entrepreneurs face are a low level of formal education, lack of expert manage-ment skills, spontaneous growth, poor expense control and heavy liabilities

MILITARY AS ECONOMIC FACTOR

According to estimates from the Ministrymillion in 2009, some €35.6 million ove

The project Network of consultants, which aims at certifying consultants

for small enterprises, is trying to organise the market in consulting services. The project includes co-financing of consulting services, which enables small entrepre-neurs to access subsidised serv-ices of certified consultants who are registered with the Croatian Agency for SME’s (HAMAG). HAMAG offer their services to beginners and entrepreneurs in the making and they are those who most often use services re-lating to obtaining funding, such as feasibility and investment studies. The most common prob-lems we face are a low level of formal education, lack of expert management skills, spontaneous growth, poor expense control and heavy liabilities. Centar konzul-tanata specialises in business consulting for strategic planning, drawing up operational business plans and the implementation of control systems and models. We manage internal processes, create systems of financial and manage-rial accounting, investment stud-ies and manage finances amongst others. Our activities mainly re-late to the construction and tour-ism sectors and renewable energy sources, but we are also linked to the production of olive oil and wine. I believe Croatia should increase support for small enter-prises, since they are the genera-tors of development and prosper-ity. Furthermore, it is necessary to invest in the training of entre-

preneurs, create a positive entre-preneurial atmosphere, eliminate or decrease administrative pro-cedures and to draw up a map of projects and activities which are regionally supported. We had an initiative for drawing up an eco-nomic analysis of the county of Split and Dalmatia. The project would insure control over the economic potential of the county in order to create the necessary conditions for the implementa-tion and monitoring of strategic development guidelines. With this kind of approach, local ad-ministrations are gaining a tool for analysing economic growth as well as for predicting further development.

Drago Živković

With a budget of €0.64 billion a year and over 20,000 employees, the

Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces has great potential not only in a defence-military sense, but also in an economic one dur-ing times of peace. This espe-cially regards the engineering regiment and its mechanisation, plus considerable real estate which could be, or is already, used for economic purposes. According to the Ministry of Defence, hiring military to per-form engineering and construc-tion works is implemented on the basis of an annual work schedule for the needs of mili-tary and civilian buildings. Work in the civilian area is performed according to the demands of lo-cal authorities and if there is available capacity, since Armed Forces have priority when hir-ing engineers. The military pro-vides personnel and machinery for such needs whilst materials and other expenses are a civil-ian cost. During last year, 30% of total engineering forces were hired for civil purposes. A similar percentage is expected this year. Work on civilian structures con-

tributes to the development of the wider local community and also serves as training for engineers, where Armed Forces incur the same expenses as they would had they performed the training in barracks and on training grounds. Areas of Special State Concern have priority in terms of work carried out.

Potential commercial engagementThe Ministry of Defence uses help provided to the city of Vu-kovar as an example of hiring en-gineering groups for civil needs. Members of the engineering regi-ments, amongst other activities, participated in providing help to flooded areas of the counties of Slavonski Brod and Posavina, as

In addition to fire protection, hiring helicopters from the Croatian Air For-ces, emergency medical assistance, tracking and rescue, transporting organs for transplantations and cargo transport are most often deman-ded. Emergency medical flights and flights for tracking and rescue are performed at the request of authorised institutions, through the state centre 112. Between 1998 and 2008, military air forces flew a total of 3,568 hours for the requirements of the health system.

3,568 hours for medical purposes

FAREWELL FOR ENTRE

Rented by the Ministry of Defence

130business facilitiess (

3

scheduled to be vacated

117military facilities(

y of Defence, the export value of the Croatian military industry totalled €90.4 er 2008

well as Zagreb. The engagement of Armed Forces under com-mercial conditions is possible in special circumstances and then a contract or an agreement is signed with the end-user. For ex-ample, special circumstances in-clude building a pontoon bridge and its commercial use. Such a construction erected for the needs of the Garden Festival in Zadar this year is another exam-ple mentioned by the Ministry of Defence. Of 335 military facili-ties used by Armed Forces five years ago, it was concluded that 218 were viable, whilst 117 were scheduled to be vacated.

Barracks for entrepreneursThe Ministry of Defence rents out 130 business facilities mostly used for storage, and land for cul-tivation. Furthermore, some non-viable military property is used for economic purposes, based on decisions of the government com-mittee for property. All monthly income from the rent is paid into the state budget. In most cases, military property was given to local government, which would

then put it into economic use. For example, land in Gornje Plavnice was given to the city of Bjelovar, which built an entrepreneurial zone on this location. The train-ing ground Jalkovec was given to the city of Varaždin for opening a servicing zone and individual residential and business facilities for motivating small-sized enter-prises. An entrepreneurial zone was opened on the location. The former barracks of Taborec was given to the city of Samobor, which will transfer its administration into this facility.

90% local supplyThe Ministry of Defence is one of the biggest consumers in the sys-tem of public procurement. From

food, beverages, clothing and footwear to arms and equipment, this year the Ministry agreed around 90% of contracts for the supply of local products and serv-ices. The remainder were agreed with foreign economic bodies, mostly in the area of supplying arms and military technology not produced in Croatia. Regarding Croatian military production, in the past couple of years several modernisation projects have been implemented, with t h e

goal of making the Armed Forces reliant upon the Croatian econo-my. A good example is co-oper-ation with the “community of of-ferors”, 14 Croatian companies which have signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence re-garding the procurement of new uniforms. Another example is co-operation with the company HS Produkt, concerning the supply of the VHS assault rifle.There is also a project for the procurement of armoured-fight-ing vehicles in co-operation with the company Đuro Đaković – Special vehicles. The Ministry of Defence initiated a programme for forming a Croatian military-industrial cluster with the goal of building a network consisting of the economy, the education system and science.The Ministry of Defence wishes Croatian companies to obtain, on market principles, the larg-est possible share of the €2.05 billion which will be spent for military purposes by 2015. The Association of Manufacturers consisting of 44 companies is working in conjunction with the Croatian Chamber of Economy. According to estimates by the Ministry of Defence, the export value of the Croatian military industry totalled €90.41 million

in 2009. Full Croatian mem-bership in NATO has certainly

contributed to this re-sult.

Within the Armed Forces, there are organised fire-fighting forces, which were hired 90 times this year, a total of 1,299 flying hours. Fire-fighting forces consist of Croatian land forces, Croatian military air forces and air defence forces, as well as Croatian naval forces and a battalion for spe-cial actions. For the fire-fighting season this year, which ended on the 31st October, 14 planes and 5 helicopters were hired.

F14 planes and 5 helicopters for fire-fighting

TO ARMS, BARRACKS PRENEURS

Privredni vjesnikYear IV No 01314

Roko Markovina, professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture

Shutting big shipyards would cause chaosAround 38,000 people would lose their jobs, 150,000 people would be left without any means of living and the state budget would lose €0.26 billion with contributions for the unemployed increasing

people employed in shipbuilding

45,000(annual export earnings

US $780million(

Jasminka Filipas

At the 19th symposium of shipbuilding held in Lum-barda on the Island of

Korčula in October, 168 experts from nine countries discussed data which cannot be heard or seen in most media. Solutions for salvaging the Croatian shipbuild-ing industry were also suggested. This motivated Privredni vjesnik to interview Roko Markovina, professor at the department of na-val architecture at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechani-cal Engineering and Naval Archi-tecture at the University of Split.

What facts are avoided by the media? The shipbuilding industry di-rectly and indirectly employs 45,000 people. Unlike other economic sectors, which do not work for more than five months a year, the shipbuilding industry counts on 16 months of work plus overtime. Around 200,000 people live from this industry. Its exports bring in roughly US$780 million annually, which amounts to around €0.55 million due to the weak dollar exchange rate. With a multiplier effect of 2.91, consisting of equipment produc-ers, suppliers, subcontractors and others, the shipbuilding industry achieves around €1.64 billion in turnover and contributes €0.26 billion to the state budget.

What about state subsidies?In a worst case scenario, subsi-dies given to strategic industry by the state amount to roughly €0.22 billion. This means that at least €41 million remains

in the state budget from the shipbuilding industry. Further-more, the majority of techni-cal, technological, control and other innovations have come to Croatia through shipbuilding. A Croatian ship is a world rec-ognised brand, which has thus far won 26 world awards for the “ship of the year”. The Croatian shipbuilding profession is aware it could achieve more. It has been suggesting solutions since 1992, which would dou-ble its income from shipbuild-ing activities in a short period of time, but these have not been recognised by a single govern-ment so far.

What has effected the erosion of shipbuilding?The erosion started in 1991 when shipyards became state owned without indemnifying the real owners, and were considered pri-vate property of the authorities just as most companies ruined during the transformation. As a consequence, they appointed their “own” leading people and not ex-perts. The only exception is Ul-janik in Pula, where professionals have always been in charge. That is why it still operates success-fully. The problem was reinforced by an unrealistically high kuna ex-change rate and a fall in the value of the dollar, an enormous rise

in the price of steel (up by 500% since 2004 when China entered the global shipbuilding, arena) and the failure to provide guarantees over the past few years, allegedly ordered by the EU. Additional reasons responsible for this poor condition are that technological modernisation halted and organi-sation and ownership systems re-structured. The last significant in-vestment in the modernisation of shipyards took place in 2003.

Is this the only problem for the Croatian shipbuilding indus-try?The large number of permanently employed is also a problem. There is an unsuitable ratio between pro-duction and administration work-ers. The co-operation, often linked to corruption, is poorly organised and the Unions performance is in-efficient. All this leads to the con-clusion that Croatian shipbuilding is burdened with internal and ex-ternal problems, but which can be solved.

If shipbuilding perishes, what would be the consequences?Some 38,000 people would lose jobs, 150,000 people would be left without any form of living, departments for shipbuilding in high schools and colleges would disappear, important scientific and research work would stop, the state budget would shrink by €0.26 billion and unemployment contributions would increase. Dis-satisfaction would transfer to other endangered producers in agricul-ture, fisheries, food and the textile industry. I believe chaos would emerge, without any hope of re-covery.

INTERVIEW

f El i l E

www.privredni.hrBusiness & Finance Weekly

CARGO CENTRE, ZAGREB

Dugo Selo becomesDugo Selo becomes a container town a container town

5

Igor Vukić

When the Cargo centre Zagreb is completed in April 2012, lorries

heading from Sofia, through Belgrade to pick up cargo in the port of Hamburg will no longer turn from the capital of Serbia to Hungary and thence arrive in northern Germany. They will travel straight to Zagreb and load goods which arrived through the port of Rijeka, in Dugo Selo. In the business zone of Dugo Selo, a container town will be situated on 1 million m2. This ambitious plan was presented last week by Marijan Banelli, president of the Association of Croatian Road Hauliers (HCP) and member of the Cargo centre Zagreb (CCZ) Supervisory Board, a joint-stock company founded over a month ago.

Opening in April 2012The foundation of CCZ has been in preparation for seven

years, said Banelli. The com-pany founders are Luka Rijeka, HŽ Cargo, Cargo centre Graz,

transporters, freight forwarders and other private stockholders. According to plans, international

investors should join the project after the land documentation is secured.When the location license is ob-tained, the construction of the road and railway infrastructure should begin, followed by open-ing in April 2012. Private in-vestors will finance everything, whilst constructors will be pri-vate companies winning by ten-der.“We are not asking for money from the govern-ment,” points out Banelli. Big companies, such as Maersk, Hutchinson Port Holding (Hong Kong), ZIM Line (Israel), Mari-ner corporation, Dubai Port and many others have expressed in-terest in working and investing in CCZ, The government of Tur-key is also very interested, since goods shipped from China could arrive five days sooner than when shipped through Rotterdam. Chi-nese companies are also men-tioned as potential investors in CCZ.

Boris Odorčić

The basic activity of Benko Kotruljić, which is mark-ing its 20th anniversary, is

in accounting services, the cal-culation of taxes and salaries in addition to other consulting and administrative services. It was named after a trader, economist, diplomat and humanist from Du-brovnik, Benko Kotruljić (Ben-edikt Kotruljević, 1416-1469), who is considered as the inven-tor of the double-entry book-keeping system, one of the basic principles in accounting. Major projects include structuring and organising accounting forms and register for companies involved in various activities. They also

make presentations of local regu-lations and laws to foreign repre-sentatives of accounting cham-bers in co-operation with the Ministry of Finance with whom they held seminars for foreign representatives of accounting chambers. They are a subcon-tractor to renowned accounting and auditing companies and co-

operation with them has brought them the Lexis Nexis award for the best international tax team.

Conflicting provisionsSome of the obstacles that regu-larly complicate business are those employees face when working with state institutions, due to inconsistent administra-tive support and complex state apparatus. Financial reports for big multinational companies covering the previous year need to be prepared in the first days of the following year. Since the deadline for submitting finan-cial reports in compliance with Croatian regulations is the 31st March (Financial Agency – Fina), or 30th March (Ministry of Fi-

nance – Tax Administration), ad-ditional explanations from both the Ministry of Finance and Fina are often published immediately before these deadlines, which is too late for clients. “A large proportion of these problems re-sult from the fact that provisions within Croatian legislation are conflicting. Laws and regulations are written in such a way that it is possible to interpret them in two different ways. Therefore, it happens that different tax con-trol inspectors interpret identical situations in a different manner. We feel better legislative consist-ency and more timely additional explanations would immensely simplify our work,” points out Dobrila Mikac.

In the business zone of Dugo Selo a container town will be situated on 1 million m2 which will change the lo-gistics structure in Eastern Europe

20th anniversary of Benko Kotruljić

CALCULATE LOCALLY, WRITE GLOBALLYMajor projects include structuring and organising accounting forms and register for companies involved in vari-ous activities

6 Privredni vjesnikYear IV No 0131

CROATIAN FOREIGN CURRENCY MARKET

Source: HNB WEEK NOVEMBER 22, 2010

Currency Kuna exchange mid-rate

AUD 5,319005CAD 5,291974JPY 6,476364CHF 5,452372GBP 8,661454USD 5,387217EUR

::: news CROATIAN INSURANCE DAY 2010

Still room for further developmentAverage pensions are insufficient for a comfortable life. That is why life insurance managers need to give more information to the public on life insurance policy ad-vantages

14.11. 15.11. 16.11. 17.11. 18.11.

7.40

7.39

7.38

7.37

7.36

7.35

EUR 5.48

5.46

5.44

5.42

5.40

5.38

USD 5.52

5.50

5.48

5.46

5.44

5.42

CHF

14.11. 15.11. 16.11. 17.11. 18.11. 14.11. 15.11. 16.11. 17.11. 18.11.

Jozo Vrdoljak

The eighth annual gathering of insurers took place in Zadar this year. It was or-

ganised by the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Insurers Association of the CCE and was sponsored by the Croatian Ministry of Finance. The CCE president’s advisor for banking and finance, Miljenko Fičor, pointed out the insurance industry still had room and op-portunity for further growth and development. This primarily con-cerns life insurance. He pointed out that the take-up level between life and non-life insurance in Croatia is 26% to 74%, whilst it is 61% to 39% in EU countries. The CCE is ready to support and join projects which would im-prove the sector, especially those which inform the public of the importance and profitability of life insurance. Average pensions are insufficient for a comfortable life. That is why life insurance managers need to provide greater information to the public on the advantages of life insurance poli-cies, pointed out Fičor.

Big changes Total calculated gross premium of insurance agencies amounted to €1.34 billion last year, a drop of 2.7% in relation to the year be-fore. “The financial crisis not only decreased sales of insurance, but also had a negative effect on the

public. Consequently, insurance agencies oriented more towards risk management. In a short pe-riod, changes occurred as a result of implementing new technology and creating new sales channels. Additionally, changes are numer-ous, and regulations are differ-ent. It is a question now of how much the insurance sector can change, since it is a conservative industry,” pointed out Snježana Bertoncelj, president of the CCE Insurers’ Association and board

president of Erste Insurance of the Vienna Insurance Group.The leading people within insur-ance agencies concluded that lo-cal insurers manage risks quite poorly and that its business re-mains non-transparent regard-less of evident improvement during the previous year. This might be the reason why Boris Galić, board president of Allianz Zagreb referred to this sector as chaotic, rather than conservative, as some might claim.

Foreign deposits increase by 7.8%According to data provided by the Croatian National Bank, money supply and total liquid assets continue to grow. At the end of September money supply totalled €7.08 billion, to which the growth of foreign exchange contributed €4.89 billion. Total liquid assets amounted to €31.88 billion.

Austrian Hypo Bank withdraws more profit from CroatiaHypo Alpe-Adria-Bank in Croatia summoned an emer-gency meeting of shareholders, which should decide on the pay-ment of €5.67 million from other reserves, as a dividend from pre-vious business periods. The total amount will be paid to the parent company of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International in Austria. In April 2010, during a regular meeting of shareholders it was decided to pay €20.74 million of which €1.03 million went to reserves, whilst the parent com-pany received the remainder.

Signed contracts worth €12.6 million HŽ-Infrastruktura (Croatian Railways Infrastructure) signed two contracts related to the project System of Signalling and Safety Devices at Zagreb Terminal. The contract on the performance of work was signed with a consortium consisting of Siemens Austria and Elektrokem from Zagreb, whilst the contract on the work supervision was signed with the Spanish compa-ny Tecnica y proyests (TYPSA). Total value of the contracts is €12.6 million, of which 85% is via non-refundable EU funds from Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), and 15% from funds from the Croatian state budget.

www.privredni.hrBusiness & Finance Weekly 7WE PRESENT

ANALIZA 360º, ZAGREBKNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE, SLAVONSKI BROD

On this web site innovators can sell their innovations at the very start of the design phase whilst companies can find inventive solutions

When women come together

Innovation and money in one place

Marketing decisions need not be based entirely on in-stinct as there are methods of transforming informa-tion into arguments which companies then turn into profit

Being an innovator myself, I realised that an innova-tion is good only if it has

a buyer and practical use. The market was missing a link which would, with one click, connect people searching for innovative solutions and those offering such solutions. Therefore, I decided to create such a web site which would link people with money to those with ideas and knowledge, said Bratislav Bukvić, creator and owner of the internet agen-cy www.burzaznanja.com.hr. Bukvić has mainly been known to the public for his electronic tourist guide and protection of industrial design for the project ‘I love the city which constant-ly sails’ (referring to Slavonski Brod). He is also preparing new innovative solutions. His web site functions quite simply. Peo-ple who are interested in working via the exchange register on the web site and the same applies to innovators and investors. After sending their information, they receive a feedback contact for the verification of their informa-tion and enclosing a contract for business co-operation. Finally

the individual receives a user name and password for the site. At that moment the site reveals an unlimited offer and demand of ideas, patents, production de-velopment, industrial design and much more. Therefore, members of the Knowledge Exchange can trade, buy and sell the published advertisements, pointed out Bukvić.

Knowledge leads EuropeThere are currently 10 registered innovators with around thirty in-novations and several investors. “Innovators are college profes-sors, PhD doctors, engineers, managers, predominantly people with knowledge and the desire to expand it. I feel, and so does the wider public I believe, that knowledge is the quickest way to Europe, with the power to keep us there,” concluded Bukvić. He added it took three years to de-velop the website, and the trial version was released two years ago. He is still updating protec-tion and safety options. All pat-ents are presented on the website of the State Intellectual Property Office. (J.F.)

Advertising is sensitive work, not only for mar-keting agencies or the

company marketing department, but also for advertisers. It is diffi-cult to choose the right advertise-ment and targeted groups, but it is even more difficult to predict whether the money invested in advertising will bring return and to what extent, or was it spent in vain. The most difficult aspect might be to evaluate how, where and how much to advertise con-sidering the vast number of me-dia and technological platforms. There is endless contradictory in-formation in the world of market-ing, which makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to take decisions about advertising and branding. That is why help from case-hardened professionals comes in useful, or even better, women professionals.

Turning information into argumentsOzana Jurković and Nada Find-erle joined their exception-ally varied individual and even greater collective marketing and advertising experience. During her career, Ozana earned the trust of global com-panies such as Unilever, G i l l e t t e , Kraft, Hen-kel, and m a n y

others. Before starting her own company, she consult-ed for Styria, one of the big-gest regional media groups. For the past ten years of work-ing in media advertising, new and traditional, Nada gained ex-perience on numerous start-up projects. These included work for Hubert Burda Media, the dai-ly newspaper 24sata, the weekly magazine TV tjedan and others. With such a depth of experi-ence, Nada and Ozana decided it was time to set sail into entre-preneurial waters, individually and as a team. They founded the company Analiza 360°, which they say is one of a kind on the Croatian market. The key skill which Analiza 360° offers is the ability to turn numbers into un-derstandable foresights on the basis of which clients can make marketing decisions in a quicker, more reliable and simpler man-ner. Analiza 360° aims to help professionals needing to make marketing decisions, whether they be owners of companies, board members, marketing direc-tors, brand managers or media planners. Marketing decisions need not be exclusively based on

instinct. There are methods of transforming information

into arguments, which companies can then turn into profit. (D.Ž.)

8FESTIVAL OF OLIVE OIL, GASTRONOMIC DELICACIES AND WINE

LOCAL IS LOCAL

Privredni vjesnikYear IV No 0131

::: news

Each Croat consumes only two litres of olive oil per year but the aim is to increase it to at least four litres

28% of Croats use mobile internetIn Croatia, 28% of Internet us-ers also surf using their mobile phones, according to research from Nokia on the use of mobile internet and applications. Nearly half of all respondents have al-ready been using mobile phone applications, mostly games and multimedia. The greatest prob-lem which discourages Croats to use mobile internet is the uncer-tainty of surfing expense (49%).

106 million passengers transportedDuring the first nine months of this year 106.4 million pas-sengers and 94.2 million tonnes of goods were transported in Croatia, according to the Cen-tral Bureau for Statistics. The number of passengers trans-ported fell by 4.5% over 2009, and goods, measured in tonnes, decreased by 15.1%. During the first nine months, railways took a 49% share of transported pas-sengers, sea and coastal transport with 10%, and air transport with 1%.

12 Croatian companies at the Furniture Fair in BelgradeAt the 48th International fair of furniture, equipment and interior decoration (UFI) in Belgrade, 12 Croatian companies from the wood processing sector ex-hibited their furniture and wood products. The promotion of the Croatian wood processors was organised by the Croatian Cham-ber of Economy, the Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management and the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. The com-panies exhibiting their products as a joint venue covering 500m2

were Spin Va-lis, Masivni namještaj, Marin

BFD, Proiz-vodnja Javor, D r v o p r o i z v o d ,

PPS Galeković, S p a č v a , A.G. Di-nas, Kor-

dun alati, F e n d i interijeri, L u p i n o and Ber-narda.

Sanja Plješa

It is known that olive oil and olives have exceptional nu-tritional value. Therefore,

greater consumption of extra virgin olive oil is recommended. It destroys harmful fat, prevents diabetes and cardi-ovascular diseases and increases brain functioning accord-ing to recent studies. In order to increase awareness of the benefits from con-suming olive oil, various events and festivals are organised throughout Croatia dedi-cated espe-cially to this oil. Recently the festival of olive oil, gastro-nomic delicacies and wine was held in Zagreb. Visitors were able to taste supreme olive oils, gastronomic del-icacies made with olive oil and Croatian wines of extreme-ly high quality. Even though the level of public awareness is still not at an enviable level regard-ing consuming olive oil, it needs to be pointed out that Croatian consumers increasingly opt for local olive oils for which they are prepared to spend more money than in the case of imported ones, pointed out Leopold Botteri, the owner of Uje oil shop, and man-ager and co-owner of the co-op-erative Brachia.

Predominant cultivation in plantations According to statistics, the con-sumption of olive oil in Croatian households is not at an enviable level, since less than two litres were consumed last year per capita. For example, average con-sumption in the EU is around six litres of oil per capita. Croatian producers and other experts be-lieve that local consumption should increase to at least four litres of olive oil per year per cap-ita. Last year, five million litres of oil was produced in Croatia, with some 350,000 litres being export-

ed main-ly to re-gional coun-tries. Imports totalled 1.8 million litres, mostly from Greece, Spain and Italy. Regard-ing the production and consump-tion of olive oil, the secretary of the Association of Agriculture and Supporting Industry of the CCE, Dražen Miloloža, said that most Croatian olives are cul-tivated on plantations. Oil is imported from Greece, Italy and Spain at a price of €2-€3 per litre. Naturally Croatian o l i v e planta-t i o n s a r e m u c h smaller than in these coun-

triesHence Croatia can only compete through quality. “We need to gain over customers, primarily through tourism and by increasing exports,” pointed out Miloloža. He

mentioned that Croatia is

interested in Rus-s i a n , Scandi-n a v i a n ,

Swiss and A u s t r i a n

markets.

four litres

that olive oil and exceptional nu-

alue. Therefore, mption of extra is recommended.

mful fat, prevents ardi-asesraincord-studies.crease

theon-l,

f o-iesheld Visitorste supremeonomic del-

with olive oil nes of extreme-Even though the awareness is still ble level regard-olive oil, it needs out that Croatian easingly opt for

for which they are end more money of imported ones,

opold Botteri, the il shop, and man-ner of the co-op-

ed main-ly to re-gional coun-tries. Imports totalled 1.8 million litres, mostly from Greece, Spain and Italy. Regard-ing the production and consump-tion of olive oil, the secretary of the Association of Agriculture and Supporting Industry of the CCE Dražen Miloloža said that

triesHence Croatia can only compete through quality. “We need to gain over customers, primarily through tourismand by increasing exports,” pointed out Miloloža. He

mentioned that Croatia is

interested in Rus-s i a n , Scandi-n a v i a n ,

Swiss and A u s t r i a n

markets.

atian olives are culn plantations. Oil isfrom Greece, Italy

n at a price of €2-litre. Naturally

o l i v e

hthan