Markovic said that the food producing branch accounted for 23% of jobs in the entire manufacturing industry in Croatia and made up 3% of all those employed in the country.
The are 744 companies whose core business is the production of bakery and confectionery products, and in addition, there are over 700 micro companies in this sector.
In terms of revenues, the bakery industry accounts for 10% of revenues in the food processing industry.
According to the "Robinson" publishing company that collected the statistics on this topic, as many as 22,000 Croatians are employed in micro businesses and companies in the bakery industry.
Robinson Director, Stjepan Odobasic, warned that 135 tonnes of bread were discarded in Croatia daily, whereas on the other side, every one in five Croats (20%) was presumed poor.
As much as 859,000 tonnes of wheat is grown in Croatia annually, and 465,500 tonnes are necessary for consumption by the population.