In the first quarter of this year Croatian commodity exports jumped 14% compared to the same period of 2014. Higher export growth rates were reported only in Cyprus, 54%, and Ireland, 18%.
Croatia's commodity exports to other EU countries in Q1 went up 17%, and only Cyprus registered a higher export growth rate, of 65%, shows Eurostat data published on Tuesday.
Croatia also recorded a two-digit annual commodity export growth rate in Q1, of 10%, to markets outside the EU. Among the member-countries, the highest annual growth rate of commodity exports to non-EU markets was recorded by Cyprus, of 40%, followed by Ireland and Malta, with 22% and 19% respectively.
Among the EU member-countries, Croatia also stands out in terms of a strong increase in commodity imports, which were 9% up from Q1 2014. The highest increase in commodity imports was recorded by Malta (35%), followed by Great Britain (13%), Ireland (10%) and the Czech Republic (9%).
In Q1 Croatia saw the highest annual increase in commodity imports from other EU countries, of 14%, while imports from other markets dropped 7%.
Eurostat also published preliminary estimates about trade in the EU and the euro area in Q1, which show that commodity exports in both areas rose 5% on the year, going up to EUR 427.4 billion in the EU28 and to EUR 491.2 billion in the euro area.
Imports in the EU28 in Q1 were two percent up on the year, amounting to EUR 423.6 billion. In the euro area, their value almost stagnated, at EUR 438.6 billion.
The trade balance for the EU28 in Q1 contained a surplus of EUR 3.8 billion. The trade balance of the euro area had a surplus of EUR 52.6 billion.