During its first multi-annual financial period since joining the EU, Croatia disbursed 33 billion kuna (€4.4 billion) in grants to agriculture, but that it has not managed to significantly improve  the value of agricultural production, the Smarter consulting company was quoted as saying on Tuesday by state agency Hina.

The value of agricultural production in 2012 amounted to 20.9 billion kuna (€2.8 billion) whereas last year it amounted to 19.2 billion kuna (€2.5 billion), which is still below the levels reached prior to Croatia’s accession to the EU.

Zvjezdana Blazic of the Smarter company said that when Croatia joined the EU in 2013, its agriculture experienced a shock due to the strong competition on the EU market, the new EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) rules and the loss of the traditional CEFTA markets.

“Unresolved structural issues in agriculture for years have resulted in losing more than 5 billion kuna (€670 million) in the value of agricultural products in the first three years (of EU membership),” underscored Blazic.

She explained that only in 2015 did the decline in the value of agricultural products stop and a moderate growth occured. “Since 2018, it has increased significantly but we still have not reached the value of production we had prior to joining the EU,” Blazic said.

Last year, during the Covid-19 pandemic the value of agricultural production amounted to 19.2 billion (€2.5 billion).

The amount of money paid out for agriculture was not backed by structural changes in production and there was no greater impact on growth and development in the sector. The value of support in agriculture, fishery and rural development increased from the starting 2.3 billion kuna (€304 million) in 2013 to almost 6.8 billion kuna (€909 million) disbursed in 2020.

“The structure of agricultural products is changing but slowly, and in a limited way,” said Blazic.

Data on foreign trade of agricultural products indicate that export increased by 8 percent in 2020, whereas imports increased by 6 percent compared to 2019.

Blazic noted that the structure of foreign trade indicates a surplus in cereals, oilseeds, fish, and meat products.

Cereals and oilseeds generate 77 percent of the surplus while other categories generate a deficit and the largest deficits are in meat, milk and eggs, fodder, fruits and beverages. Meat, milk and eggs generate 46 percent of  the deficit, said Blazic.

(€1 = 7.49 kuna)