CROATIAN PARTICIPATION IN GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN OR THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CROATIAN VALUE-ADDED TRADE

The research is focused to the segment of global value chains that arise and expand due to the liberalization of trade, high foreign direct investrments, technology development, integration processes. The production process becomes fragmented where many producers from different countries participate from the beginning of production till the final production stage. There is a need to measure the trade in value-added to be able to calculate the real contribution of every particular country to the export values. The aim of this paper is to research the characteristics and indicators of GVC participation for the Republic of Croatia on the national and sectorial level. Analysis identified that Croatia has achieved worse results than other EU member states, with the highest share of domestic value added in total export. GVC participation index has not been changed in the period 1995- 2011. GVC position index indicates Croatia lies in negative part and the backward participation dominates (in comparison with forward participation). Sectors that contribute the most to Croatian export are: chemical products, electrical and optical equipment and transport equipment, and the highest index of GVC particpation is in sectors: chemical products and transport equipment. In the source of value added in export and final demand, except the domestic one, the value added from the EU member states dominates (with the highest shares of Germany, Italy and Slovenia) that confirms Croatian participation in regional GVC.