Food Packaging in Croatia

Kata Galić

Introduction

Croatia's economy suffered badly during the 1991-95 war as output collapsed and the country missed the early waves of investment in Central and Eastern Europe (Figure 1). Since 2000, however, Croatia's economic fortunes have begun to improve slowly, with moderate but steady GDP growth between 4% and 6% led by a rebound in tourism and credit-driven consumer spending (Croatia Economy, 2009).

Figure 1: Location of Croatia

A national strategy for rural development has been adopted in May 2008, which foresees the implementation of a national investment support scheme complementary to EU funds provided under SAPARD (Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development) and IPARD (Instrument for Pre-acession Assistance for Rural Development). A new Act has been adopted for the transposition of Council Regulation (EC) 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs (COM 2008).

There are currently six food products bearing labels which testify to their genuine and original characteristics or geographical origin: prosciutto from Istria and Drniš, Cetina cheese, cheese from the island of Pag, Slavonian salami kulen and salt from the island of Pag (HGK 2009b).

The Croatian cuisine is a mix of continental (meat / bread) and Mediterranean food (fish / pasta) and also a mix of influence from the East (Turkey, Greece) and Austro-Hungarian style.

The average Croat is aware of the food quality that she/he is consuming and researchers show that the consumer is domestic brand orientated if the price and quality is at the same level as the imported product (Euromonitor 2009). Croatia also remains on target for an accession into the European Union (EU), which is most likely to be finalised in 2011 or 2012.

Food and Beverage Industry

Croatia with the population of 4.4 million people (in summer 15 million including tourists) imports food and food products to a value of approx. $US1B with the food processing industry having a 22% share of the GDP (Marie-Griffiths 2005).

Major agricultural products are cereals, seeds, tangerines, tobacco, medicinal herbs, truffles and honey. Food products account for 80% of total Croatian exports of agricultural and food products. Important export products are sugar, cigarettes, Vegeta (seasoning), baby food products, beer, mineral waters, etc.

In addition to tropical and Mediterranean fruits and coffee, Croatia imports significant amounts of live pigs, cattle, cocoa and oil crops. The most important export destinations are neighbouring countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Slovenia and Serbia, while the majority of imported products come from Germany, Italy, Brazil, Hungary and the Netherlands. The food, beverages and tobacco industry contains over 1,300 companies, which employ some 50,000 persons or 18.8% of the total number of employees in manufacturing industry. At the same time, these branches have attracted the bulk of foreign investments, and some exceptionally successful companies operate within them (HGK 2009b).

The Food Act (Official Gazette 2007) is a basic law on food safety in Croatia, which is in accordance with EU Regulation 178/2002. It gives a general overview and requirements on food and feed safety, duties of persons dealing with food, prescribes a system of official control, requirements for laboratories, obligation for food producers to implement HACCP, establishment of the Croatian Food Agency (HAH, http://www.hah.hr), managing of crises and urgent situations, authorisation and responsibility of relevant authorities regarding food import.

Packaging Materials

The total amount of packaging material used in Croatia in the period from 2001 to 2008 is presented in Figure 2 (HGK 2009a, CEA 2007, CSI 017; Imbriovčan 2008).

Figure 2: Packaging material consumption in Croatia, 2001-2008

The Croatian packaged foods market is continuing to see increasing distribution through supermarkets/hypermarkets at the expense of small grocers. In 2008 supermarkets/hypermarkets accounted for 44% of sales, followed by convenience stores with 18% and independent grocers with a 12% share. Only 10 years ago supermarkets/hypermarkets accounted for only 28% of distribution.

Consumption of packaging materials in the food industry is presented by the one of the largest food packaging material users, Podravka d.d. (Figure 3) in Croatia in 2007 (Podravka 2007). The proportion of packaging put on the market for the EC countries, in 2001 (Oldring and Nehring 2007) was: 39.1% paper/cardboard, 25% glass, 16.3% plastics, 7.2% metals, 11% wood and 1.4% other packaging.

Figure 3: Packaging material consumption in food industry Podravka in 2007

Glass packaging is used mainly for strong alcohol, wine, beer, segment juices, baby food, and spices. The two metals most predominantly used in packaging are aluminium and steel (tinplate). Metal packaging is used mainly for beverages and beer, meet, fish, vegetable and fruit preserves, more luxury foodstuffs such as high-quality tea or confectionery products and aerosol packaging. The plastic packaging production sector is highly fragmented and highly competitive. Flexible packaging has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the packaging market over the last decade, having developed from simple wraps and bags to more complex products with sophisticated functionality.

EU Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste has been fully transposed by the Waste Act, the Waste Management Strategy in Croatia, which entered into force in November 2005. The existing legislation also sets collection and recycling targets to be met by the end of 2008 and 2015 respectively. It requires that products are marked and information on the possibility of return of packaging is visibly displayed at the points of sale. Croatia assessed the new system to be effective as in 2006 more packaging waste had been collected in the course of 3.5 months than during the whole 2005 (Screening Report 2007).

It is worth mentioning the Croatian CROPAK contest for the best package. CROPAK, founded 2004, is organised by Tectus d.o.o., the Institute of Packaging and Graphic Arts, and the trade journals Ambalaža and CroPrint. CROPAK awards and certificates for best packaging on the Croatian market are on the following website: Ambalaža, http://www1.ambalaza.hr/. CROPAK winners are recognised to enter WorldStar Award for Packaging Excellence, organised by the World Packaging Organization (WPO) – a global association of packaging producers, distributors and consumers (WPO 2007).

References

Ambalaža website: http://www1.ambalaza.hr/

CEA (2007) Croatian Environment Agency, Assessment Report on availability of environmental information and gaps with regard to EEA needs. http://www.azo.hr

COM, (2008) Croatia 2008 progress report, Commission of the European communities: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/press_corner/keydocuments/reports_nov_2008/croatia_progress_report_en.pdf

Croatia Economy (2009) http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/croatia/croatia_economy.html, 2009 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK, published:11 June 2009, accessed 15 September 2009.

CSI 017 Generation and recycling of packaging waste. http://www.azo.hr/lgs.axd?t=16&id=2614.

EU Directive 94/62/ECC Council Directive of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste. Official J. L 365, 31/12/1994: p. 0010 – 0023.

EU Regulation 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety, Official J. L 31/1, 1/2/2002.

Euromonitor (2009) Packaged Food in Croatia: http://www.euromonitor.com/Packaged_Food_in_Croatia (published: January 2009), accessed 9 September 2009.

HAH, http://www.hah.hr/english/eng_index.php

HGK (2009a) Croatian Chamber of Economy: http://hgk.biznet.hr/hgk/fileovi/15950.pdf

HGK (2009b) Croatian Chamber of Economy, Agriculture, Food Industry and Forestry Department: http://www2.hgk.hr/en/depts/agriculture/Poljoprivreda_2009_web.pdf

Imbriovčan, Z (2008) Croatian packaging industry-Positive trends (in Croatian), Ambalaža, 2: 8-11.

Marie-Griffiths, D (2005) Business Opportunities in Croatia: http://www.croatiasa.com/files/businessopportunitiesincroatia-june2005.doc

Official Gazette (2007) Food Act (NN 46/07)

Oldring, PKT and Nehring, U (2007) Packaging materials. 7. Metal packaging for foodstuffs. ILSI Europe Report Series

Podravka (2007) GRUPA PODRAVKA, IZVJEŠĆE O ODRŽIVOM RAZVOJU, Godišnje izvješće za 2007. Godinu: http://www.podravka.hr/repository_files/file/911/

Screening report (2007) Chapter 27 – Environment, 1 February 2007: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/croatia/screening_reports/screening_report_27_hr_internet_en.pdf

WPO (2007) WorldStar: http://www.worldpackaging.org/worldstar-packaging-awards/default.asp , accessed 14 September 2009.

Dr Kata Galic is Professor of Food Technology in the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva 6, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia; E-mail: kgalic@pbf.hr