The tunnel oven, which was sold to a family bakery in New Jersey, is 11.2 metres long, 4.8 metres wide and 2.8 metres high, Gostol Gopan marketing manager Mateja Kravos Pljakoski told the STA.

The oven, valued at EUR 400,000, has the capacity to bake between 1,500 and 2,000 loaves of bread in an hour.

The oven is different from those produced for the European market in that it is equipped with infrared technology that gives the bread a different taste.

The oven was shipped off to the US on Tuesday and is expected to arrive there within a month. The delivery is a logistical challenge, as the oven is being shipped in a single piece by boat.

This tunnel oven has been the second big project for Gostol Gopan this year. They plan to build two more baking lines worth EUR 4m for a Belgian company by the end of the year.

The company plans to make EUR 16.5m in revenues in 2013. It employs 175 workers.