Conditions for Croatian exports of textiles and clothing to the European Union after 2004 - the effects of liberalization and enlargement

Abstract

In the processing industry of Croatia, the textile and clothing industry occupies an important place. Its share in the total production of the processing industry is 6.6 %, and in the number of employees 14.2 %. In the total export of Croatia, the textile and clothing industry participates with 12.3 % and in the total import with 5.5 %. The domestic and foreign environment in which this industry participates has been exposed to great and growing competitive pressures for decades. The European Union is the most important export market of the Croatian textile industry, to which the industry exports about 90 % of its total exports. Such high exposure of Croatian exports of textile and clothing products to the conditions existing on the EU market requires that they be considered from the current position, but with an emphasis on new circumstances that will fundamentally change these conditions in the near future. The circumstances that bring about these changes should be sought first of all in the liberalization processes taking place within the multilateral trade system (WTO), and then in the upcoming expansion of the EU with ten new members. These processes will ultimately lead to unprecedented competition on the EU textile and clothing market.