In 2021 there were 928 enterprises whose core business was producing bread, fresh pastries, confectionery products and cakes, and they generated a total of 4.9 billion kuna (€651 million) in consolidated revenues, which is 11.5 percent up from 2020, state agency Hina said on Monday, carrying a press release by the state financial agency Fina.

The sector employed more than 15,000 people last year, which was a 0.6 percent increase from 2020.

The aggregate reported revenue of these 928 businesses in 2021 amounted to 4.9 billion kuna (€651 million), which is an increase of 11.5 percent compared to 2020. However, in the same period, they recorded an increase in total expenditures of 13.7 percent, to reach 4.85 billion kuna (€645 million).

Their total consolidated profit amounted to 21.2 million kuna, which was 79.5 percent down from 2020 when they posted a 103.2 million (€13.7 million) kuna profit. Of the total number of enterprises in that industry, 589 or 63.5 percent were in the black at the end of the year.

Their exports in 2021 was worth 301.1 million kuna, which was 59.6% up from 2020, while imports recorded a slight increase, of 0.2 percent, to reach 152.4 million kuna.

The average monthly net salary in that industry was 4,636 kuna (€616), which was 4.6 percent up from 2020 but still 27 percent lower than the average national monthly salary of 6,350 kuna (€844).

The market is dominated by large chains. The Mlinar chain had the highest total revenue of 682 million kuna, which accounted for 13.9 percent of the market. Mlinar was followed by the Pan-Pek chain, which had a 290.5 million kuna revenue (5.9 percent of the market).

In terms of profit, the Dubravica bakery chain posted a 19.7 million kuna profit with 151 million kuna revenue, followed by Mlinar, with a 19.4 million kuna profit against 682 million revenue.

Third was Ekos, a Varazdin-based company specializing in making cakes distributed in retail stores, with a 14.5 million kuna profit. although Fina did not report what their revenues were.

(€1 =  7.52 kuna)