Companies from the top 1000 lost the battle with the rest of the economy last year based on revenue growth criteria. However, the largest suffered an even greater defeat in exports. The total export of all Croatian companies decreased by 4.2 percent last year. The main exporters, the top 1000, exported goods and services worth 22.1 billion euros, which is nine percent, or two billion euros less than in 2022. At the same time, imports stagnated, causing the top 1000 to collapse the foreign trade balance from a surplus of 3.5 billion euros to 1.4 billion. It did not help that the rest of the companies simultaneously increased exports by 5.5 percent (although they also increased imports by 12.8 percent). Since the top 1000 accounts for as much as 66 percent of Croatian exports (and 70 percent of imports!), it can be said that last year’s Croatian exports were actually brought down by the largest companies. Thus, the share of exports in the revenues of companies from the top 1000 fell from 27.1 percent to 22.8 percent.
When this year’s list (which included 119 new companies) is compared to last year’s (from which 119 companies dropped out), the export gap is even deeper – a total of 2.3 billion euros – and the decline amounts to 9.5 percent. According to this criterion, 2023 was the worst year in recent Croatian history. Export results for the top 1000 were only reduced in 2013 (4.2 percent), 2016 (1.2 percent), 2019 (1.1 percent), and, of course, 2020. However, even in the year of the pandemic and lockdown, the export of goods and services fell by ‘only’ 6.1 percent, and even then, almost all negativity was attributed to tourism: exports for hotels and restaurants on the list plummeted from 5.5 billion euros to 1.4 billion. The transport sectors also suffered, so the rest of the companies actually increased exports that year. During the pandemic, the largest commodity producers completely reoriented to foreign markets and doubled their exports in three years, but last year saw a significant decline. What happened?
Oil and gas prices fell on the world market, which is the reason for the reduction in export value by about 700 million euros. But how to justify the remaining 1.6 billion in export losses? Last year, orders from the largest European markets (especially Germany) fell. Since these are the main foreign trade partners, almost all exporters felt this. Most also felt the price differences, which fell in foreign markets while remaining stable or slightly increasing in the domestic market. Thus, we arrive at the real reasons for the decline in exports. Consumption in Croatia increased last year, which is certainly a positive indicator. However, this medal also has two sides. In the domestic market, it is certainly the easiest: products, clients, partners, and customs are known, the customer is reached the fastest, and the transport of goods is the cheapest.
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