Foreign trade chains operating here in Croatia are increasingly promoting Croatian products and businesses, as well as on other markets on which they operate.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/VLM writes on the 6th of June, 2019, last year, large, medium and small Croatian producers exported their products through Spar Croatia to Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy in the amount of 68 million euros, or more than half a billion kuna, and some of them now appear to be eyeing up a far more distant market – the Chinese one.
Spar’s hypermarkets in Rijeka, Zagreb and Zadar were visited by a high delegation consisting of some of the leading people of Spar China, from five Chinese provinces, as well as the president of the China’s trade and franchise association, Guo Geping.
The products of selected Croatian suppliers such as Vindija, Kraš, Gavrilović, Dukat, Podravka, Badel and others were looked into and considered as being potentially good to export to the Chinese market. Spar is currently present in seven Chinese provinces with more than 350 stores, with an impressive annual turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros.
However, although intensifying cooperation on exports of foodstuffs from Croatia can be expected, this mostly covers pork and processed products, such poultry and fish, Croatia ad China have signed a protocol on the possibility of exporting milk and dairy products from Croatia to China, after the approval of veterinary certificates.
However, previous experience suggests that Croatian producers, small ones operating within the EU or indeed worldwide, find it much easier to ”penetrate” the world through Croatian or other leading retail chains already operating on particular markets.
”Trade chains such as Spar, Kaufland and Lidl already enjoy good business cooperation with our manufacturers in Croatia. And of course, it’s much easier to transfer these relationships to the other markets where they operate,” said Ante Madir of the Croatian prosciutto cluster.
He pointed out the fact that it’s even better to have Croatian ham and other types of cured meats have a chance of promotion in stores and at leading fairs in other countries such as the Parisian SIAL or Berlin’s Grüne Woche.
As business relations between Croatia and China continue to grow stronger, perhaps many of Croatia’s best loved domestic products asife from dairy, from Kraš and Gavrilović to Podravka, might find themselves sitting proudly on the shelves of well known chain stores in China.
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