Despite having vast areas of land suited to lavender production, Croatia will soon start importing lavender seedlings produced in Serbia, the daily Jutarnji List writes.

Although Croatia is a Mediterranean state where lavender grows in abundance, it is forced to import the seedlings, the daily writes.

A private laboratory from Velika Plana in Serbia will soon start exporting lavender seedlings produced by modern biotechnology. Just one square meter of seedlings is expected to cover the planting of some tens of hectares of lavender.

Croatia has the potential to produce medicinal herbs in Lika, Dalmatia and Slavonia, but it continues to import some 750 tonnes per year.

The companies dealing with the production of the herbal medicines discovered it is more cost-effective to import than to expand the domestic production, despite the state incentives, the daily explains.