Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2007
A short review is given of the beginnings of an organised poultry production in the Republic of Croatia, along with the changes that came about during the transition period, from the year 1993 to 2003. That analysis includes basic characteristics of the Croatian poultry products market, such as poultry production facilities and the number of birds, the production and consumption of poultry meat and hen eggs as well as the export and import of poultry products. The result shows that Croatian poultry production is organised in 498 enterprises and 346,530 family farms. In the period examined, Croatia produced on the average 86.2 thousand tons of poultry weight gain and 825 million eggs (49.5 thousand tons). In 2003 – 19.3 kg of poultry meat and 8.1 kg of eggs were consumed per household member. The overall foreign trade balance of Croatian poultry product was positive over the entire research period.