Price Competitiveness of the Manufacturing Sector – a Sector Approach Based on Technological Intensity Level

The developments in real effective exchange rates among different manufacturing activities point to the presence of diverse price competitiveness conditions in the economy. Broken down by the sectors into which activities are categorised according to the technological intensity of the manufacturing process, price competitiveness in Croatia improved in the medium-low-technology sector and deteriorated in the high-technology sector in the 2000–2016 period. At the same time, it saw no significant changes in the low-technology and medium-high-technology sector. The developments in price competitiveness at sector level varied in other EU countries as well, particularly in the new member states. Among new members, Poland improved price competitiveness the most in the low-technology and the medium-high-technology sector, Croatia witnessed the largest improvement in the mediumlow-technology sector, while the price competitiveness of the high-technology sector improved the most in Slovenia. It is noteworthy, however, that changes in price competitiveness across sectors in the majority of the observed EU member states were not accompanied by the expected changes in the share of exports on the global market, which, among other things, indicates the relevance of non-price export competitiveness factors.