That dollar amount reflects a 46.6% gain from $17.2 billion five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, Croatia’s global export sales increased by 15.6% compared to $21.8 billion during 2021.
The top 5 most valuable Croatian exports are processed petroleum oils, electrical energy, petroleum gases, medication mixes in dosage, and sawn wood. Combined, that quintet of major exports approached one-quarters (22.8%) of overall Croatian sales of exported products.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, the Croatian kuna depreciated by -14% against the US dollar since 2018 and declined by -12.6% from 2021 to 2022. Croatia’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Note that Croatia joined the euro area on January 1, 2023 making the euro Croatia’s legal currency going forward.
Croatia’s Main Trade Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that over three-quarters (78.1%) of products exported from Croatia were bought by importers in: Italy (12.2% of the Croatian total), Slovenia (11.5%), Hungary (11.3%), Germany (11.1%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (10.4%), Serbia (6.3%), Austria (5.3%), France (2.4%), United States of America (2.3%), Poland (2.1%), Spain (1.7%) and Romania (1.5%).
From a continental perspective, 91.8% of Croatia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 4.2% was sold to importers in Asia. Croatia shipped another 2.6% worth of goods to North America.
Smaller percentages went to Africa (1.1%), Latin America (0.2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Croatia’s population of 3.9 million people, its total $25.2 billion worth of exported goods in 2022 translates to roughly $6,500 for every resident in the European nation. That dollar metric eclipses the average $5,600 per capita one year earlier during 2021.
Croatia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Croatian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Croatia.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$4.9 billion (19.5% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $2.1 billion (8.3%)
- Machinery including computers: $1.7 billion (6.8%)
- Wood: $1.4 billion (5.7%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $1.1 billion (4.2%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $769.5 million (3.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $768.6 million (3%)
- Aluminum: $756.1 million (3%)
- Vehicles: $702 million (2.8%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $675.4 million (2.7%)
Croatia’s top 10 exports accounted for 59% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 Croatian export categories, up by 89.2% from 2021 to 2022. That category was mainly propelled by higher international sales of Croatian petroleum gases plus refined petroleum oils.
In second place for improving export sales was wood via a 17% advance.
Croatia’s shipments of plastics, both as materials and items made from plastic, posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 9.5%.
There was a pair of decliners among Croatia’s top 10 export categories, namely pharmaceuticals (down -8.5% from 2021) and exported vehicles (down -7.5%).
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Croatia’s most valuable exported product in 2022 was processed petroleum oils (6.2% of total Croatian exports). That category was trailed by electrical energy (5.9%), petroleum gases (5.6%), medication mixes in dosage (2.7%), sawn wood (2.3%), electrical converters or power units (2%), insulated wire or cable (1.9%), crude oil (1.6%), blood fractions including antisera (1.4%), then automobile parts or accessories (1.3%).
Products Generating Croatia’s Greatest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Croatian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports reflect the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Wood: US$846.7 million (Up by 16.5% since 2021)
- Cereals: $436.5 million (Up by 29.1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $184.6 million (Down by -6.5%)
- Arms, ammunition: $143.1 million (Down by -1.7%)
- Railways, streetcars: $124.7 million (Up by 44.2%)
- Oil seeds: $114.8 million (Down by -29.7%)
- Fish: $63.7 million (Down by -28.8%)
- Stone, plaster, cement, asbestos: $43.6 million (Up by 5.6%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $39.6 million (Up by 36.5%)
- Glass: $23.9 million (Down by -35.7%)
Croatia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of lumber. In turn, these cashflows indicate Croatia’s strong competitive advantages under the wood product category.
Products Creating Croatia’s Largest Trade Deficits
Croatia incurred an overall -$18.6 billion trade deficit during 2022, swelling by 56% from -$11.9 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2021.
Below are exports from Croatia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Croatia’s goods trail Croatian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$6.3 billion (Up by 216.1% since 2021)
- Vehicles: -$1.8 billion (Up by 21.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.6 billion (Up by 15%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$946.6 million (Up by 6%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$944 million (Up by 21.8%)
- Iron, steel: -$806 million (Up by 26%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$691.5 million (Up by 7.5%)
- Meat: -$452.6 million (Up by 26.8%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$420.8 million (Up by 7.9%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$336.5 million (Up by 32.5%)
Croatia has negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for petroleum gases, refined petroleum oil, crude oil, electrical energy, and coal under the mineral fuels-related product category.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Croatia’s competitive disadvantages in the international fossil fuel market, but also represent key opportunities for Croatia to improve its position in the global economy through focused innovations particularly in alternative energy sources.
Croatian Export Companies
Not one of Croatia’s corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list exporters from Croatia. Selected examples are shown below.
- Efke (photographic papers, chemicals)
- Koestlin (biscuits, other confectionery products)
- Podravka (food)
- Rimac Automobili (electric vehicles)
- Vindija (dairy products)
- Viro (refined sugar)
In macroeconomic terms, Croatia’s total exported goods represent 16.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($154.7 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 16.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 17.1% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Croatia’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Croatia’s unemployment rate averaged 6.783% for 2022, down from an average 8.092% in 2021 according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.
Zagreb is the capital city of the Republic of Croatia.
See also Slovenia’s Top 10 Exports, Italy’s Top Trading Partners, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Top 10 Exports, Germany’s Top 10 Exports and United Kingdom’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: Croatia. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 5, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (National Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 5, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 5, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Wikipedia, Croatia. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Croatia. Accessed on June 5, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 5, 2023