In the 14th century, during the Dubrovnik Republic, for a monetary unit of one perpera, one could obtain about 80 liters of wine or 24 kilograms of lamb or only 46.8 kilograms of wheat! It is hard to imagine how bread, fresh pastry, confectionery products, and cake producers would operate under such conditions today. An analysis over the past five years showed that the highest number of entrepreneurs in the bakery sector was in 2016, with 850 of them employing 15,874 people, while in 2012 there were 664 entrepreneurs with 14,630 employees. The number of employees grew the most at Mlinar from Zagreb, by 521 employees, and at Bobis from Split, by 377 employees.
Large Exports of Baklava
Total revenues in the bakery sector increased by 12.6 percent over five years, with the share of exports in total revenues rising from 0.6 percent to 1.8 percent. The leader in this industry by export value is Mlinar, which began exporting in 2014 and nearly doubled its exports by 2016 – from 14.3 to 27.2 million kuna. The second largest bakery exporter is New Bakery from Donja Lomnica. The largest European baklava factory, in foreign ownership, exported nearly 11 million kuna last year, which is 96 percent of its revenue. Along with a 228 percent increase in exports, imports in the bakery industry also grew by 44 percent, but despite this, imports remained higher than exports throughout the observed period, resulting in a negative trade balance that was highest in 2012 (32.9 million kuna) and lowest in 2015 (515 thousand kuna). Throughout all five years, entrepreneurs in the production of bread, fresh pastries, confectionery products, and cakes operated positively and achieved profits, the highest in 2015 and 2014, and only slightly lower in 2016 when it amounted to 155.5 million kuna, which is 471 percent more compared to 2012.
That life is not always sweet for employees in the production of fresh pastries, confectionery products, and cakes is shown by the average monthly net salary, which was 3,339 kuna in 2012, and in 2016 it was slightly higher, by 5.4 percent, amounting to 3,520 kuna. This is significantly lower compared to the average monthly net salary of employees at the national level in Croatia in 2012 (4,769 kuna) and 2016 (5,140 kuna), despite the fact that this industry has tough working conditions (working in three shifts, on Sundays, holidays, and public holidays…). At the level of the entire manufacturing industry, the average monthly net salary of employees was also higher than that in the bakery sector and at the level of all entrepreneurs in Croatia, amounting to 5,173 kuna in 2016.
