Xifres de comerç exterior de Croàcia

Foreign Trade in Figures

Croatia, which joined the WTO in 2000, depends heavily on foreign trade, which amounts to 90.6% of the GDP (World Bank, latest data available). The country mainly exports petroleum oils, medicaments, human and animal blood, and electrical transformers; while imports are driven by motor cars, medicaments, blood, petroleum oils and crude oil, and telephones.

In 2020, the EU accounted for 69.7% of Croatian exports (mainly towards Germany, Italy, and Slovenia), followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (8.6%) and Hungary (7.2%). The leading import origins were the EU (81.2%, reflecting the structure of exports’ destinations), China (4.6%), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (2.9% - data Comtrade and Croatian Bureau of Statistics).

In terms of merchandise, Croatia has a structural trade deficit: according to figures by WTO, in 2020 exports of goods totalled USD 17.1 billion (stable y-o-y) while imports decreased by %5.1, at USD 26.7 billion. However, the country is a net exporter of services, with exports – at USD 9.7 billion – far above imports (USD 3.9 billion). According to figures by the World Bank, the overall trade deficit stood at an estimated 6.7% of GDP in 2020, much higher than the level of 0.3% recorded one year earlier (mostly due to a sharp contraction in services’ exports, at -43.4%). Preliminary figures from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics show that in the first ten months of 2021, total exports of the Republic of Croatia amounted to HRK 114.5 billion ( 25.4% higher than in the same period of 2020). In the same period, total imports reached HRK 174.0 billion (+21.9% y-o-y).