Croatia: Changes in Croatia’s Agro-Food Trade with CEFTA Following Croatia’s European Union Accession
Before the European Union accession, Croatia’s most important agro-food export markets were the Central European Agreement (CEFTA) countries, especially neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) and the Republic of Serbia. After Croatian EU accession, on July 1, 2013, Croatia was obliged to leave CEFTA, but obtained access to concessions negotiated in the EU’s preferential trade agreements with third countries. Leaving CEFTA resulted in a number of key Croatian agro-food products being assessed duties in CEFTA countries. In 2013, compared to 2012, agro-food exports declined in value to the following CEFTA countries: Macedonia (-14.3%), BIH (-12.3%), Serbia (-8.2%) and Montenegro (-2.8%). However, in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, Croatian agro-food exports grew in value to Serbia (44.2%), Montenegro (31.8%) and Macedonia (13.0%), but shrank to BIH (-2.0%). However, at the same time, Serbian goods began replacing Croatian exports in the BIH market (2.4 % in the 1st quarter of 2014), while BIH’s trade with Serbia also increased (16.0% in the 1st quarter of 2014) and declined to Croatia (-23.8% in the 1st quarter of 2014). Preliminary information indicates that Croatian companies that were active in the EU before accession have generally enjoyed a growth rate of approximately 10-20% as a result of the elimination duties and certain costs associated with border controls.In the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, Croatia's agro-food exports grew 38.8% to the EU-27 in value terms.
