STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF CROATIAN MANUFACTURING

In this paper the structural characteristics of exports and imports of Croatian manufacturing during the period of transition are analyzed. The main characteristic of the process is a significantly higher average growth rate of imports than exports which has resulted in the creation of a high relative deficit. Results of a correlation analysis show that the products which have comparative advantages at the same time do not have a higher ratio of unit price of export and import. In the trade structure of Croatian manufacturing, inter-industry trade prevails whereas only labor intensive activities and raw-material intensive activities show positive export trends. In the part of the trade structure which has intra-industry type of trade, horizontal specialization and vertical specialization with low value added exports dominate. The greatest deterioration of export competitiveness to EU markets has been recorded in the textile and clothing industry. Index of entropy, indicator of comparative advantages and indicator of horizontal and vertical specialization reveal an insufficient level of trade specialization in domestic manufacturing.