Croatia's exports reached €8.17 billion in January-July of 2018, an increase of 3.6 percent over the same period in 2017, while imports rose by 6.6 percent to €13.68 billion, the state statistics bureau said on Friday.

This means that the country’s trade deficit was €5.5 billion, compared to €4.9 billion last year. Coverage of imports by exports decreased to 59.8 percent from 61.5 percent in the same period in 2017.

Exports to EU member states increased by 9.0 percent to €5.6 billion, while imports increased by 7.2 percent to €10.7 billion. Exports to non-EU countries dropped by 6.5 percent to €2.6 billion while imports from those countries went up by 4.1 percent to €2.9 billion.

Croatia’s exports reached €8.17 billion in January-July of 2018, an increase of 3.6 percent over the same period in 2017, while imports rose by 6.6 percent to €13.68 billion. The trade deficit was €5.5 billion, compared to €4.9 billion in the same period last year.

The statistics bureau also revised upwards its initial data on foreign trade in the first six months of this year. According to the latest figures, exports in the first six months of this year rose by 2.9 percent to €6.9 billion, while imports went up by 6.4 percent to €11.6 billion, with a trade deficit of €4.67 billion.

The manufacturing industry accounted for the largest share in Croatia’s total exports, of 90.7 percent, seeing a 4.9 percent rise to €6.3 billion in the first half of 2018.

Italy and Germany continue to be Croatia’s main trading partners. In the first six months of 2018, Croatia exported slightly over €1 billion worth of commodities to Italy, or 7.8 percent more than at the same time in 2017, while its exports to Germany rose by 15.6 percent to €943.7 million.

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