That dollar amount reflects a 53.4% acceleration from $17 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, Croatia’s global export sales gained 5.6% compared to $24.7 billion during 2023.
The top 5 most valuable Croatian exports are processed petroleum oils, medication mixes in dosage, electrical converters or power units, crude oil and electrical energy. Combined, that quintet of major exports amounted to 18.2% of overall Croatian sales of exported products.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Croatia uses the euro which flatlined via a 0.02% gain against the US dollar from 2023 to 2024. The slightly stronger European Union currency made Croatia’s exports paid for in weaker US dollars modestly more expensive for international buyers.
Croatia’s Main Trade Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 74.9% of products exported from Croatia was bought by importers in: Germany (11.9% of the Croatian total), Italy (11.4%), Bosnia/Herzegovina (11.2%), Slovenia (10.9%), Serbia (6.3%), Hungary (6.2%), Austria (5.1%), United States of America (3.4%), Slovakia (2.38%), France (2.36%), Poland (2.2%) and Spain (1.7%).
Croatia joined the European Union on July 1, 2013. Fellow EU members bought 65.3% of all spending on Croatian exports in 2024, down from 67.3% for the prior year.
From a continental perspective, 90.8% of Croatia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 4.1% was sold to importers in Asia. Croatia shipped another 3.6% worth of goods to customers in North America.
Tinier percentages went to buyers in Africa (1%), Latin America (0.3%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Croatia’s population of 3.86 million people, its total $26.1 billion worth of exported goods in 2024 translates to roughly $6,800 for every resident in the European nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $6,500 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Croatia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Croatian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Croatia.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$3.4 billion (13.1% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $2.6 billion (9.9%)
- Machinery including computers: $1.9 billion (7.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $1.34 billion (5.1%)
- Wood: $1.23 billion (4.7%)
- Vehicles: $1.1 billion (4.2%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: $863.9 million (3.3%)
- Aluminum: $797.2 million (3.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $764.8 million (2.9%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: $710.7 million (2.7%)
Croatia’s top 10 exports accounted for 54.9% of the overall value of Croatian shipments.
Vehicles represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 30.7% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was mineral fuels including oil via a 15.3% advance, led by crude oil.
Croatia’s shipments of pharmaceuticals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 14.8%.
The lone decliner among Croatia’s top 10 export categories was machinery including computers, pulled down by a -2.7% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Croatia’s most valuable exported product in 2024 was processed petroleum oils (5.8% of total Croatian exports). That category was trailed by medication mixes in dosage (3.7%), electrical converters or power units (3.2%), crude oil (3%), electrical energy (2.5%), insulated wire or cable (2.1%), sawn wood (2%), petroleum gases (1.7%), knitted or crocheted stockings and hosiery (1.5%), then blood fractions including antisera (1.4%).
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$680.1 million (Up by 8.3% since 2023)
- Cereals: $270.3 million (Up by 12.2%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $188.4 million (Down by -13.6%)
- Railways, streetcars: $181.2 million (Down by -5.3%)
- Oil seeds: $118.5 million (Up by 7.4%)
- Arms, ammunition: $68.3 million (Down by -33%)
- Woodpulp: $60.4 million (Up by 169.2%)
- Lead: $18.5 million (Up by 54.6%)
- Stone, plaster, cement, asbestos: $14.7 million (Up by 69.5%)
- Fish: $11.5 million (Down by -83%)
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 -US$19.4 billion trade deficit during 2024, expanding by 8.6% from -$17.9 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
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$3.7 billion (Down by -6.4% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$2.6 billion (Down by -0.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.9 billion (Up by 13%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$915.8 million (Up by 3.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$896.5 million (Down by -9%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$720.2 million (Up by 6.1%)
- Meat: -$679.8 million (Up by 11.7%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$596.4 million (Up by 13.1%)
- Iron, steel: -$572.2 million (Down by -9%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$481.1 million (Reversing a $4.3 million surplus)
Historically Croatia generates 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 13.9% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($187.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 13.9% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 15.1% for 2023. 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 5.457% for 2024, down from an average 6.225% in 2023 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
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 August 28, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 28, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 28, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 28, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Croatia. Accessed on August 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 28, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Croatia. Accessed on August 28, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 28, 2025
X-rates.com, Exchange Rates: Euro to US Dollar (monthly average 2024)