Ljubljana, 11 June (STA) - Agricultural companies in Slovenia incurred a combined net loss of EUR 2.44m after two years of positive results, Tatjana Zagorc, the head of agriculture department at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) revealed on Monday, blaming the poor result on adverse weather.
The loss comes after agricultural companies made EUR 8.73m in net profit in 2016, according to GZS data.
Branko Virag, the head of the agricultural companies' association, said last year had been full of challenges for agriculture.
For the second time in two years, Slovenia was hit by frost in April and the summer brought heat waves and droughts. "All this had very negative consequences on agricultural production," he said.
Net sales revenue at the companies edged down 0.2% to EUR 176.9m. Exports dropped by 6.3% to EUR 22.18m. As a result, the share of goods sold at markets abroad decreased from 13.3% to 12.5%.
Permanent crops are the biggest group of exported goods, with winegrowing industry contributing 45% to the exports and livestock industry 27%.
The number of companies was down from 309 to 301, but the number of employees increased by nearly 100 to 1,808. Value added per employee stood at EUR 32,558 last year, down from EUR 39,116 in 2016.
On the other hand, food companies fared better last year, increasing their combined net profit by 6.3% to EUR 81m on EUR 2.16bn in sales revenue. Compared to 2016, revenue dropped by 5%.
Exports accounted for EUR 598.70m of the revenue, which is up 12.6% compared to 2016. The share of sales on foreign markets increased by 0.9 points to 27.8%.
"This is an enviable figure for the food industry. On average, European countries export 20% of production in the sector ... The branch has stabilised and continues the trend from 2016," Zagorc said.
The grouping of various food products accounted for 27% of the exports, meat industry for 25% and milk industry for 22%.
The number of companies in the industry increased from 719 to 733 and the number of employees by more than 300 to 13,683. Value added per employee stood at EUR 36,472, which compares to EUR 36,318 in 2016.