Foreign Trade in Goods

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY 2024

Sources and methods of data collection

The data source for the statistics on trading in goods with EU Member States is the Intrastat form used by the reporting units to report on arrivals and/or dispatches on a monthly basis, that is, for each month in which goods physically enter or leave the territory of the Republic of Croatia. As of 1 January 2024, all goods included in purchase and sale transactions must be reported to Intrastat based on the month of the creation of the taxable event. The reporting units are all business entities, value added tax payers whose value of trading in goods with EU Member States exceeds the exemption threshold determined for the reference year. For 2024, an exemption threshold of 450 thousand euro for arrivals and of 300 thousand euro for dispatches has been determined. In order to achieve complete harmonisation with the EU methodology and legislation, data on foreign trade in goods have been supplemented with trade value below the exemption threshold after being estimated on the basis of data on supplies and acquisitions of goods in/from EU Member States provided by the Tax Administration Office of the Republic of Croatia.

The data source for the statistics on trading in goods with third countries, that is, non-EU countries, are customs declarations on export and import of goods. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics receives the reviewed customs declarations from the Customs Administration of the Republic of Croatia in the form of data records.

Following basic methodological recommendations of the UN Statistics Division and Eurostat, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics statistically processes and disseminates the collected Intrastat and Extrastat data as unique information on foreign trade in goods of the Republic of Croatia.

Legal basis

The legal basis for conducting the Intrastat survey is the European legislation related to the statistics on trading in goods between EU Member States, the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20 and 155/23), the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia for 2024 (NN, No. 29/25) and the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13, 30/14, 115/16, 39/19, 98/19, 155/23 and 36/24). More detailed Notes on Methodology for this survey are published on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics – Intrastat (gov.hr).

The legal basis for Extrastat is the European legislation related to the statistics on trading in goods with third countries, the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1225 of 27 July 2021 specifying the arrangements for the data exchanges pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as regards the Member State of extra-Union export and the obligations of reporting units, the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/235 of 8 February 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 as regards formats and codes of common data requirements, certain rules on surveillance and the competent customs office for placing goods under a customs procedure, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1704 of 14 July 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU)  2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council by further specifying the details for the statistical information to be provided by tax and customs authorities and amending its Annexes V and VI, the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/234 of 7 December 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 as regards common data requirements, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 as regards the codes to be used in certain forms, the Act on the Implementation of the Customs Legislation of the European Union (NN, No. 40/16), the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos 25/20 and 155/23), the Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia for 2024 (NN, No. 29/25) and the Customs Administration Act (NN, Nos 68/13, 30/14, 115/16, 39/19, 98/19, 155/23 and 36/24).

Coverage and comparability

Statistics on foreign trade in goods include all goods exported from or imported into the country. Data on foreign trade in goods include both export and import based on gross inward and outward processing.

In inward and outward processing, the total value of goods in export and import is monitored. Thus, in the case of an active transfer, the value of goods imported for inward processing and the full value of goods exported/dispatched after inward processing (including the value of imported goods, the value of domestic material and the value of domestic services) are monitored.

Besides commercial transactions (which include charges), the statistics also comprises goods for which the trade, that is, export and import, is performed without the payment of the counter value. This statistics does not include temporary export and import of goods (up to two years) that are returned to the owner in an unaltered state, services, monetary gold, goods used as carriers of customised information including software and software downloaded from the Internet, means of payment which are legal tender and securities, goods supplied free of charge which are not the subject of commercial transactions (advertising material and commercial samples), supplying of Croatian diplomatic missions abroad and foreign diplomatic missions in the Republic of Croatia, and temporary exports and imports for repair.

All data on export and import are expressed in values and quantities. The value of goods is determined on the basis of original documents of business entities (contracts, invoices).

The values expressed are actual values achieved at the time when deals were contracted (invoice values), which are then further recalculated according to deliveries at the Croatian border. Export values are calculated on the basis of the FOB parity. It means that the invoice value is reduced for transportation and other costs incurred from the Croatian border to the place of delivery abroad, if it is agreed that the goods are to be delivered abroad. If it is agreed for the delivery to take place in the Republic of Croatia, the invoice value is increased by the costs incurred from the place of delivery in the Republic of Croatia to the Croatian border.

Import values are calculated on the basis of the CIF parity. It means that the invoice value is increased by transportation and other costs incurred from the place of delivery abroad to the Croatian border, if it is agreed that the goods are to be delivered abroad. If it is agreed for the delivery to take place in the Republic of Croatia, the invoice value is reduced for the costs incurred from the Croatian border to the place of delivery in the Republic of Croatia.

The amounts expressed in foreign currencies are converted into euro and US dollars according to the monthly exchange rate lists determined for the reporting month. The mean exchange rate of the Croatian National Bank is used.

Since 1 January 2002, the eight-digit code of the Combined Nomenclature (the EU customs and statistical classification of products) has been used in data collection, and it is harmonised up to the six-digit code level of product with the Harmonised System.

Data on export are shown by countries of destination. In Extrastat, data on import are shown by countries of origin of goods, while, in Intrastat, data on the arrivals of goods are presented by countries of dispatch.

The economic classification of countries refers to:

- European Union – EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden)

- European Free Trade Association – EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland)

- Central European Free Trade Agreement – CEFTA (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia)

- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – OPEC (Algeria, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

Abbreviations

CEFTA       Central European Free Trade Agreement

CIF            cost, insurance and freight

EFTA         European Free Trade Association

Eurostat     Statistical Office of the European Communities

FOB          free on board

NN             Narodne novine, official gazette of the Republic of Croatia

OPEC        Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

UN             United Nations

Prepared by: Dubravka Drempetić, Zrinka Lokas and Tamara Dodig Marić