Croatia's strategic reserves worth €93m, medicines still absent

Croatia’s strategic commodity reserves were valued at €93 million at the end of 2025, a 6.9 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy’s annual report. However, the stockpile still contains no medicines, despite a 2022 law requiring them to be held.

The reserves are kept at 357 secret locations and are planned to cover the rational consumption of 200,000 residents for 60 days, with wheat reserves sufficient for the entire population for the same period, and equipment to care for 50,000 people.

Wheat made up the largest share of value at 18 percent, followed by multi-purpose tankers (12 percent), cooking oil (9 percent), sugar (7 percent), containers and corn (6 percent each) and eurodiesel (5 percent).

During 2025, goods worth €11.5 million were purchased, including ten water tankers, ten million kilograms of wheat, over 4.3 million kilograms of sugar, 1,000 packs of baby nappies and 5,000 packs of sanitary pads.

The ministry said medicines were absent because their procurement, storage and distribution require alignment with separate legislation covering drug and medical product licences. It added that in major disasters medicines can be bought through urgent procedures and distributed via authorised health services.

At the end of the year, reserves included 66,303 tonnes of wheat, 26,309 tonnes of corn, 4,881 tonnes of barley, 139 tonnes of rice, 108 tonnes of pasta and 9,974 tonnes of sugar. There were also 3.8 million litres of cooking oil, 214,333 litres of long-life milk and 650,044 litres of drinking water.

Non-food reserves featured 125 multi-purpose tankers worth €11.1 million, 9.7 million litres of eurodiesel and 5.51 million litres of petrol — the same fuel volumes as at the end of 2024. Fuel is primarily intended for operational forces in affected areas during the first 30 days of an emergency.

Shelter and equipment included 1,105 containers, 256 mobile homes, 1,618 tents, 30,545 sleeping bags, 9,037 beds, 16,432 metres of mobile flood barriers, more than half a million sandbags, 124 generators, 118 water pumps and 174 submersible pumps. First-aid kits, protective suits, masks and gloves were also stored.

The reserve directorate recorded €54.6 million in revenue and €58.5 million in expenses last year, with spending up 16.2 percent, largely due to €39.5 million for accommodating displaced Ukrainians.