Croatia Shrugs off Slump in Trade With Russia

Recent political tensions between Croatia and Russia are not the only factors behind the steady decline in the value of trade between Russia and Croatia, experts say.

Economic analyst Damir Novotny told BIRN that falling trade levels, mostly caused by a fall in imports from Russia, are not "a dramatic issue for Croatia".

"Raw materials dominate this trade between us, but can be found easily in other markets," he said.

He explained that some Croatian exporters to Russia from the food sector had found new ways to export goods through Serbia.

When Russian slapped sanctions on food products from the EU in 2014, as response to EU and US sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis, some Croatian food companied started re-packaging products destined for Russia in Serbia.

As Serbia is not an EU state and is not included in Russia's sanctions, they were able to by-pass the sanctions regime that way.  

"Russia isn't the most important Croatian foreign trade partner. The most important are three EU states: Italy, Austria and Germany. Neighbouring countries in Southeastern Europe, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, are also important," Novotny concluded.

According to Croatia's Bureau of Statistics, Croatian export to Russia in the first eight months this year were worth 106 million euros, 2.1 per cent lower than in the same period last year.

In the same period, Croatia imported 155 million euros worth of goods from Russia, which was a striking 54.9 per cent less.

Over the whole of 2015, Croatia exported 195 million euros worth of goods to Russia, which was 29.5 per cent less than in 2014 - partly a result of Russia's sanctions.

Croatia mainly exports pharmaceutical products to Russia, but also food and...