The factory produces 25 million cans of fish annually, of which 80 percent is exported, and employs 321 workers. The average annual turnover is about EUR 25 million, and the factory has been generating an average annual net profit of EUR 2 million in the last five years, Sardina's manager Mislav Bezmalinovic said.
Sardina also offers frozen fish and engages in the cultivation of shellfish, tuna fish, sea bass and gilt-head bream. It exports its products worldwide, mostly to Japan, Spain, EU countries, the US and Russia, and is expected to start exporting to China soon, Bezmalinovic said, adding that Sardina has the most modern fishing fleet in Croatia.
Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolusic said that Sardina was contributing to the development of Brac island. "The Sardina factory is a Croatian success story and a first-rate story on the global scale too," he added.
The minister said that the government should pay more attention to the islands than it had so far, and that Croatia could use EU funds from the Maritime and Fisheries Operational Programme for the development of its islands.