Suppliers meet with government representatives.
Nineteen of the largest suppliers of Agrokor met on Tuesday afternoon with Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalić, Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić, and president of the Croatian Chamber of Economy Luka Burilović. Suppliers have been saying for several days that they want to have open and clear communication channels with regards to Agrokor, and that they want to be part of restructuring process of the company, reports Večernji List on March 22, 2017.
At the meeting, they were given a promise by Deputy Prime Minister Dalić that their demands would be met and that the government was aware of their importance. “We have repeated that the government expects from Agrokor’s board of directors and owners to find a solution for the current situation, which will provide stability and security for employees and suppliers. We support suppliers in their demands because they are important for the whole economy, just like it is essential to continue with orderly flow of goods from suppliers to Agrokor”, said Dalić after the meeting.
Suppliers are not only worried about the collection of money owed to them by Agrokor, around 16 billion kuna, but they are even more concerned about the future, that is, where they will continue to sell their products if there is a change in ownership structure, since most of them sell as much as a third of their production in Konzum and other parts of the Agrokor group in the region. “Our intention is to ensure stability of our companies and the stability of the Agrokor group, our largest distributing and selling channel in Croatia”, said Damir Bulić, CEO of Kraš, one of key Agrokor’s suppliers.
Another suppliers also pointed out that communication was the most important issue, in order for other companies to lower the tensions, which are running high these days, especially with suppliers which are more exposed to Agrokor.
While Croatian government has met several times with stakeholders in the Agrokor crisis, authorities in Serbia have yet to meet with officials from Agrokor, which has several major companies in the country. A meeting of Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić with Agrokor representatives should take place by the end of the week. “We are monitoring the situation, although they have assured us that there are no problems in Serbia. It is important that Agrokor stabilizes its operations. Every sign of recovery is good news for us”, said Ljajić.
Serbian media published unconfirmed reports that Agrokor could soon settle its debts to suppliers in the country. While some suppliers have no problems with the collection their debts, other vendors have to wait for up to four months for their invoices to be paid.
