EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS OF THE CROATIAN FOOD INDUSTRY

The main aim of the paper is to assess the international competitiveness of the Croatian food industry by deploying the Constant Market Share (CMS) analysis. The CMS model is able to quantify the export performance of the food industry compared to the rest of the world and individual foreign markets (the EU 27, new member states). The analysis revealed rather disappointing results in terms of the competitive position of the Croatian food industry in the period after 2010. The CMS was able to decompose change in the market share based on the geographic and product component and competitiveness effect, and the results confirmed the hypothesis that the loss in competitiveness of the Croatian food industry is the most important factor which determined the decreasing share of Croatian companies in world trade. The impact of the product mix of exported food products was neutral while its geographical effect was also negative. A regional reorientation of exports to more dynamic markets is an option which could boost the exports of the Croatian food industry.