Are the Chinese Coming to Slavonia to Produce Electric Vehicles?

Chinese investors are interested in purchasing fresh meat from black Slavonian pigs. Chinese investors have confirmed interest in Osijek Airport. Chinese investors want to invest in ecological agriculture in Slavonia. And that is about it when searching for the terms Chinese investors and Slavonia. All these articles are several years old, and after all these announcements, nothing has happened; the Chinese have neither come, nor invested, nor initiated any significant exports to the Chinese market in Slavonia.

Perhaps nothing significant will happen this time either, but the whispers are getting louder: Chinese companies that produce electric vehicles are looking for locations to start their production in Europe, and since it is important for them to be close to the Hungarian border and Szeged, where the Chinese group BYD is already building its factory, our Slavonia is also attractive to them!

Confidentiality Agreement

How much truth there is to this is hard to say because no one responded to Lider’s official inquiry. However, as we unofficially learn from several sources in Slavonia, and this is the only way we can describe our sources because they do not want their integrity to be questioned, there is one larger investor who is expected to announce their grand project that will soon be built in that part of Croatia, but they did not want to reveal anything more than that.

– Our hands are tied, we signed confidentiality agreements, everything will be revealed soon – said Lider’s sources.

These are not the only sources that handle this information; it can also be heard from business circles in other parts of Croatia that the Chinese are looking for locations in Slavonia. Yes, this has been talked about for some time, Lider learns.

It would not be unusual for there to already be the backbone of an agreement between a certain investor and local authorities, but for no one to officially release that information to the public. Such a confidentiality agreement kept the news that the American company Jabil Inc. is coming to Osijek under strict secrecy for a year and a half, and its facility in Nemetin will open this year. If it is true, it means that no one will respond to Lider’s inquiries about a possible investment until an official announcement comes that must be approved by all interested parties.

Chinese Filming Business

It is also worth noting that the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) announced last year that “eight Chinese companies are exploring business opportunities in Croatia,” and according to that announcement, these were companies operating in the fields of metal industry, machinery, shipbuilding parts, furniture industry materials, solar energy, transport, and trade.

In addition to these announcements, the most well-known Chinese project in Croatia is the Pelješac Bridge, which was co-financed by the European Commission, so in that case, it cannot be considered a Chinese investment. It was once said that the Chinese were interested in the Uljanik shipyard, and they invested in the Senj Wind Farm.

Currently, the most Chinese investments in Europe are happening in Hungary. In Debrecen, the construction of a battery factory worth 7.3 billion euros is underway. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD announced last year that it would build its first EV factory in Europe in Szeged.