PIK Vrbovec is Croatia's first meat company that has begun exporting to Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Thursday.

After meeting the strict Japanese meat processing and production criteria, last month PIK Vrbovec made its first delivery of baby beef to the HoReCa channel in Japan. The company was issued with an HVI 21-2 veterinary certificate thanks to successful cooperation between the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture and the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The CEO of PIK Vrbovec, Slaven Ruzic, was quoted as saying that this is a very important market for his company because Japan is the world’s second largest importer of meat and meat products, notably high-quality baby beef.

“We are proud to be the first Croatian meat company to export its meat to Japan. This is yet another confirmation of the quality of Croatian livestock production and excellent news for domestic producers in general,” Ruzic said.

The Ministry said that this was the result of years of work by its Veterinary Service on animal disease eradication and control programmes.