The Agricultural Mechanization Cluster Optimistic About Business Expansion in Maghreb Countries

The Agricultural Mechanization Cluster has achieved good results at the SIAM Agricultural Mechanization Fair in Morocco with the support of the Agency for Export Promotion and Investment, the Ministry of Economy, the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Rabat, and the Croatian Chamber of Economy.

The first joint venture of the Agricultural Mechanization Cluster at the SIAM fair in Morocco generated significant public interest and opened the market for its members. The cluster is organized as a joint-stock company, with eight founders holding equal shares and rights – these are the companies Hidraulika Kutina d.d., Olt d.d., Standard MIO d.o.o., Gramip TPS d.o.o., Hittner d.o.o., Pod d.o.o., Pecka d.o.o., and Limex d.o.o. The goal of the association is to increase competitiveness and open new markets for its members by leveraging the advantages of a joint appearance. The cluster is focused on increasing exports. Agricultural mechanization has been assessed as the most potent export product in research conducted by domestic and foreign agencies, claims APIU director Sani Ljubinčić.

Morocco has significant potential for importing agricultural mechanization with 10 million hectares of arable land. The president of the Supervisory Board of the Cluster and director of Hidraulika, Ante Bazina, is convinced that all prerequisites for business operations have been established. He also emphasized that the most important investment is in promotion, which the Cluster intends to focus on in the upcoming period. The Moroccan fair featured 750 exhibitors from 20 countries and was visited by more than 800,000 people. The Cluster presented products from each of its members, and all exhibited goods were sold. A significant success for promotion was also three reports about the Croatian stand shown on Moroccan national television.
Hidraulika has been operating in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria for over ten years, and has now opened the market to its partners from the Cluster. The targeted markets after Morocco are Tunisia and Algeria, where the Cluster also expects successful promotion and new business opportunities.  (Zlatko Salahović)