Croatia's commodity exports reached €7.6 billion in the first four months of 2023, rising 9.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2022, while imports increased 1.8% to €12.9 billion, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Friday.

The foreign trade deficit was €5.3 billion in the first four months of this year, falling by €419.4 million from the same period of 2022.

The coverage of imports by exports was 58.9%, rising from 54.9% in the corresponding period of 2022, according to the first estimate of the DZS.

Exports to EU member states increased by 7.4% to €5.2 billion, while imports from those countries grew 5.7% to €10 billion.

Exports to non-EU countries totalled €2.4 billion, up by 14.1%, while imports from them went down by 9.3% to €2.95 billion.

The top three trading country-partners are Italy, Germany and Slovenia.