Strong growth for Croatian exports.
In the first eleven months of 2015, Croatian commodity exports expressed in kuna rose by 11.5 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, while imports grew by 7.1 percent, reported today the State Bureau of Statistics, reports Vecernji List on February 8, 2016.
According to the latest data by the State Bureau of Statistics, in the period from January to the end of November 2015, Croatia exported goods worth 80.4 billion kuna and imported goods worth 129.5 billion kuna. The trade deficit for the first eleven months of last year amounted to 49.1 billion kuna, which is 0.6 percent more than in the same period last year. Export-import ratio for the 11-month period stood at 62.1 percent.
Expressed in euros, Croatian commodity exports in the first eleven months of last year amounted to 10.56 billion euros and were 11.7 percent higher than in the same period of 2014, while imports increased by 7.3 percent to 17 billion euros. The deficit amounted to 6.4 billion euros and was 0.3 percent lower than year before.
The most important market for Croatian products is still the European Union, which represented 66.4 percent of exports. In the first eleven months of last year, the EU member states imported goods worth 7.02 billion euros, which is 16.4 percent more than in the first eleven months of 2014. At the same time, imports from these countries rose by 10 percent to 13.2 billion euros. Exports to CEFTA countries in the same period fell by 1 percent to 1.89 billion euros, with a simultaneous increase in imports by 12 percent, to 933.9 million euros.
Individually, the most important Croatian foreign trade partner is Germany with a total trade value of more than 3.8 billion euros, while the main export markets are Italy and Slovenia. Among the sectors with significant shares in total exports, the largest percentage growth was recorded for shipbuilding industry, by 145.4 percent to 409.2 million euros. Export growth was also recorded in the food production, by 16.4 percent to 841.27 million euros.
Substantial export growth rates were registered in the production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, followed by the pharmaceutical industry, the production of leather and related products, and agriculture, forestry and fisheries products. At the same time, a significant decline in exports was reported in the production of refined petroleum products, as well as metal products.
