EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS OF THE CROATIAN FOOD AND BEVERAGES INDUSTRY

Ovaj diplomski rad ispituje izvoznu konkurentnost prehrambene industrije Republike Hrvatske i odabranih zemalja Europske Unije. Prehrambena industrija čini važnu komponentu Hrvatskog gospodarstva i robnog izvoza. Usprkos tome, Hrvatska ima negativan vanjskotrgovinski saldo kada je riječ o trgovini prehrambenim proizvodima pa se postavlja pitanje koliko je domaća prehrambena industrija konkurentna na međunarodnom tržištu. Za odgovor na to pitanje najprije je definiran sam pojam konkurentnosti i njezina uloga u izvoznim performansama te su definirani pokazatelji kojima se ona mjeri. Korištenjem odabranih pokazatelja konkurentnosti izvršena je komparativna analiza izvozne konkurentnosti prehrambenih industrija Republike Hrvatske i odabranih zemalja članica Europske Unije. Analizom je utvrđeno da domaća prehrambena industrija dosta zaostaje za vodećim usporedivim zemljama po pitanju produktivnosti, investicija i bruto dodane vrijednosti te ima lošiju trgovinsku bilancuThis thesis examines the export competitiveness of the food and beverage industries of the Republic of Croatia and selected member countries of the European Union. The food industry is an important component of the Croatian economy and it is the largest domestic exporter of goods. Despite this, Croatia has a negative foreign trade balance when it comes to trade in food products, so the question of the domestic food and beverages industry international competitivness arises. To answer this question, the concept of competitiveness and its role in export performance are examined, and the indicators by which it is measured are defined. A comparative analysis of export competitiveness of Croatian and selected EU member states food industries was performed by using international competitiveness indicators,. The analysis concluded that the domestic food industry lags far behind the leading comparable countries in terms of productivity, investment and gross value added and has a poorer trade balance