Italian wood-processing group Florian is preparing to restart production at the former Cedar complex in Vrbovsko, Croatia, with investment plans that include completing an unfinished sawmill and adding a pellet plant alongside the site\u2019s existing cogeneration facility.<\/p>\n
The project is expected to create around 30\u201335 jobs initially, rising to approximately 100 once the planned facilities are operating. According to Vrbovsko mayor Dra\u017een Mufi\u0107, who recently met group founder Elvio Florian and other company representatives, bringing the full investment programme into operation will require at least three years.<\/p>\n
Unfinished sawmill forms part of the investment programme<\/strong><\/p>\n Florian intends to continue much of the site\u2019s previous wood-processing activity while completing facilities left unfinished by Cedar. Foundations for the new sawmill are already in place, but the plant still requires further development and equipment.<\/p>\n The proposed pellet operation would complement the existing cogeneration plant. The announcements concern a phased restart and further construction; the new sawmill has not yet been completed.<\/p>\n The municipality has offered to support the investment, including a reduction of up to 75% in municipal development contributions under its existing decisions. Mufi\u0107 said the project could restore a significant source of industrial employment in Vrbovsko following Cedar\u2019s insolvency proceedings, which began in 2020. www.novilist.hr<\/p>\n Assets acquired through separate transactions<\/strong><\/p>\n The industrial complex was purchased earlier this year by Vilstroj, a family-owned forklift business based in Buzet, for \u20ac1.54 million in the fourth round of a public auction.<\/p>\n The package included land, production buildings, drying and steaming facilities, equipment, a biomass energy plant and an internal railway siding connected to the route towards the port of Rijeka.<\/p>\n Florian also acquired Cedar assets separately. Through its Croatian subsidiary DI \u010cazma, the group purchased movable assets for \u20ac686,000, according to insolvency documentation cited by Croatian business newspaper Poslovni dnevnik.<\/p>\n The Vrbovsko project is to be implemented through the newly established Flo Vrbovsko, owned by Florian\u2019s Croatian subsidiary Drvna industrija Novoselec. Details of the final ownership arrangements between Vilstroj and Florian had not been fully disclosed when the Croatian reports were published on 3 November. www.poslovni.hr<\/p>\n The municipality subsequently published confirmation of the restart plans on 5 November, citing Radio Gorski kotar\u2019s account of the meeting. It reiterated that recruitment would begin with around 30 employees, with the workforce expanding towards 100 as investment progresses. A specific production restart date was not provided in that announcement. vrbovsko.hr<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n