Croatia's Food Trade Deficit Soars by 30%, Import Dependence Rises

According to a report by the Croatian News Agency on September 3, the president of the Agriculture and tourism branch of the Croatian Economic Chamber of Commerce, Kovacevic, made his comments at a conference on the theme of food production and marketing. He noted that last year Croatia suffered an unprecedented deficit in the foreign trade of food, which amounted to a staggering 1.9 billion euros. This figure represents a 30 percent increase over 2020, showing the seriousness of the trade deficit. At the same time, food exports fell 2.5 percent year on year, while imports rose 10 percent. This trend shows that Croatia's dependence on imported food is increasing.

The chairman of the Croatian Parliament and Agriculture Committee, Johan Patil, also expressed concern about the issue. He pointed out that Croatia is currently self-sufficient in only five food products, which is obviously not enough to meet the needs of the domestic market. Patil stressed that Croatia has rich natural resources and is fully capable of producing a variety of food products. Therefore, he called for promoting the transformation of the food manufacturing industry from producing raw materials for export to producing products with higher added value and better adapted to market demand. In addition, he also mentioned the importance of developing a circular economy and improving production, processing and storage capacity.

In addition to the trade deficit and dependence on imports, Croatia also faces serious challenges with household food waste. According to relevant research, the average amount of food thrown away in Croatia every year is as high as 286,000 tons, of which 216,000 tons are discarded by households. This means that each Croat wastes up to 54 kilograms of food per year, which is slightly lower than the EU average, but still alarming. Food waste not only causes economic losses, but also has a negative impact on the environment. Therefore, how to reduce food waste and improve the efficiency of food use has become an urgent problem in Croatia.