Visit of Vukovar-Srijem county prefect Mr. Damir Dekanić and the Management Board of Hrvatske šume

January 20, 2022

As part of the visit of the Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić to the Wood industry Spačva, a working meeting was held on Tuesday, January 18th together with the Managment Board of Hrvatske šume, headed by their Chairman of the Board Mr. Krunoslav Jakupčić.

At the very beginning, Jozo Jović greeted the participants in front of the BJELIN GROUP, emphasizing the importance of the support of the Hrvatske šume so far in fulfilling the annual plans and delivery of raw materials. “We mostly rely on the Vinkovci Forest Administration because they are closest to us, it has been agreed that we will use their transport to deliver logs and we are satisfied with the cooperation so far. We have several trucks of our own, but if we take into consideration that we need over one hundred trucks per year, we are content to have the support from Hrvatske šume use and use their transport to Bjelovar, Ogulin, Otok for deliveries of logs to all of our factories. We want to work together with Hrvatske šume to change the perception that forests are not managed in the right way. We believe that Hrvatske šume with its raw material base is able to create thousands and thousands of jobs through a higher degree of product finalization, which is in the interest of all of us, to get a product with higher added value, so that the wood industry and workers in the wood industry are not on the margins of society, than to be well paid and not to leave Slavonia. We have seen the devastating data from the latest census and we are aware that with clear measures of support from the county and Hrvatske šume, young people can be provided with the opportunity to make a living from their work. We believe that we need to talk about it, we all need to work on it and to take it as a common task. BJELIN GROUP is ready to invest.” Jović emphasized that we cannot be just an observer, but that it is up to us to invest in the profession, to create new young staff and work force. We want to emphasize the ecological and socio-economic potential of wood processing, which is becoming increasingly important in Europe as wood is processed in rural areas, which saves many jobs. For this reason, forestry and wood processing are increasingly perceived as a complete, unique and integrated sector of great potential. Plans for spatial expansion within Spačva d.d. were presented. Jović stated that Spačva d.d. has a very well organized system, that Spačva d.d. has a good raw material base and people with knowledge and energy and that the only thing missing here was a strong investor who is willing to invest, which is now solved by taking over Spačva d.d. by the BJELIN GROUP.

The Chairman of the Board of Hrvatske šume Mr. Krunoslav Jakupčić said that he was satisfied with the cooperation with the Bjelin Group so far. He looks forward to the continuation of cooperation and expects that this cooperation will be even better in the future. Hrvatske šume will consider and try to invest in its fleet to provide even better service.

Prefect Dekanić commented on the takeover of Spačva, satisfied with the fact that Spačva was taken over by the BJELIN GROUP, because in this way the whole production process is completed and everything rises to a higher level, as we had the opportunity to see how everything works in the factory in Otok. He also commented about the census, the loss of people which is devastating. In his opinion, the situation is serious and he will try to help and protect every investor from the position of prefect, and ask Hrvatske šume to keep the raw materials in Slavonia as much as possible.

A prerequisite for the smart and sustainable use of forest raw materials is the availability of the raw materials themselves. Therefore, there is a constant appeal for the decentralization of Hrvatske šume and the improvement of the model of distribution of forest raw materials in such a way that UŠP Vinkovci must be able to independently distribute raw materials from which the local community and the local economy must benefit the most and that the profit from the sale of logs is invested in the development of local forestry and the local wood industry.

The visit ended with a tour of the production facilities of Wood industry Spačva.

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