Croatia to be Forced to Import Wheat

This year's wheat harvest in Croatia is over, the yields are high, but the quality is low, so they will have to import certain amounts of Durum wheat so that the baking industry could produce quality bread and baked products, Slobodna Dalmacija writes.

At least 950,000 tons of wheat was produced, but only 10% is of first and premium class, 20% is of second class, whereas 40% is of third class. The rest is fourth class, that is, wheat used as animal feed.

That is why bakers will have to import nearly 100,000 tons of wheat, at considerably higher prices than those they pay for the domestic wheat, the article adds.

At the same time, the producers are nowhere near satisfied with the purchasing price. They point out that it is below 1 kuna per kilogram, which doesn't even cover the production costs, and any kind of profit is out of the question.

In Croatia, all silos from Slavonija to Lika used to be full. Now, everything is empty, there are no workers, and the mills have been inactive for years, said Antun Laslo, wheat producer and president of the Zivot cooperative.

He sees the influence of importing lobbies behind this, because wheat is exported so that semi-baked bread and other products and flour would be imported to Croatia, while domestic mills and silos remain empty, the daily writes.

Zadruga Život

Antun Laslo

Slavonija

Lika

wheat

wheat harvest

wheat yields

wheat quality

wheat import

Durum wheat

baking industry

bread

baked products

first class wheat

premium class wheat

second class wheat

third class wheat

fourth class wheat

wheat used as animal feed

price of wheat

silos

semi baked bread

flour