Surprisingly good investment numbers for Croatia’s forestry industry.
On the occasion of the International Day of Forests which will be marked on 21 March, the Financial Agency (FINA) has announced the results that the business entrepreneurs have achieved in the forestry and logging industry during the period from 2009 to 2014. In 2014, 162 businesses had 8,800 employees, which was 5 percent less than in 2009, reports agrobiz.hr on March 19, 2016.
The highest net profits were recorded in 2014, when they amounted to 128.2 million kuna. By far the largest company in this sector is state-owned Hrvatske Šume. It employed 90.5 percent of workers in the industry, achieved 83.7 percent of total revenues and 83.8 percent of profits in the forestry and logging sector. Companies in this sector have increased their investments in 2014 to the amount of 129.5 million kuna, which is 14 times more than the investments reported in 2009.
The analysis of the number of persons employed in the forestry and logging industries has shown that the number of employees kept declining in the period from 2011 to 2014. This is a consequence of the fact that Hrvatske Šume decided to decrease its number of employees. In 2009, the company had 8,738 employees, but in 2014 the number dropped to 7,967.
Workers employed in the silviculture and related activities had the high average monthly salary of 5,713 kuna, which was 17.1 percent more than the average salary for all the entrepreneurs in Croatia, while the lowest paid were those employed in logging; their average salary was just 2,921 kuna. Hrvatske Šume had the biggest impact on the average monthly salary in all forestry related activities. The giant company had 7.967 workers and paid them an average net monthly salary of 5,770 kuna.
Approximately 89 percent of the total revenue of Hrvatske Šume is the result of its core business – selling wood. However, some other related activities are increasingly gaining importance. These include hunting, tourism, real estate, leisure and other similar activities.
