In the first six months of this year agricultural and food exports reached EUR 884 million.
In 2017, agricultural and food exports increased by 7.5% compared to 2016, when they had risen by nearly 13% over 2015.
However, despite the increase in exports in the first half of this year, the negative trade balance increased by more than EUR 50 million as imports had continued to rise faster than exports.
In 2017, compared with 2016, agricultural and food imports increased by 11.5%. In the first six months of 2018, imports reached EUR 1.46 billion, up 6.4% over the same period last year.
Croatia mostly exported chocolate and other products containing cocoa, fresh and frozen fish, and cigarettes, while imports mainly included pork, bread and bakery products, and animal feed preparations.
Among 24 groups of products, a positive trade balance was observed in seven groups: wheat, fish, sugar, oilseeds and medicinal herbs, tobacco, processed meat, and various products for food.
"The total coverage of imports by exports of only 60% indicates the generally low competitiveness and the insufficient volume of domestic production of primary agricultural products and products of the food processing industry," HGK vice-president for agriculture Dragan Kovacevic said.
He added that producers with an export-import coverage of less than 50% should be particularly concerned, namely meat and milk producers and fruit and vegetable growers who he said do not produce enough.