Slovenia sees double-digit growth in foreign trade

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s foreign trade continued to grow apace in September with official statistics showing merchandise exports increasing by 15.2% year-on-year to EUR 2.96bn and imports rising by 13.6% to EUR 2.93bn.

Slovenia recorded a trade surplus of EUR 29 million and an export/import ratio of 101% in September, the Statistics Office said.

Exports to the EU rose by 5.5% from September 2018 to EUR 2.11bn and imports from there increased by 8.6% to EUR 2.14bn.

While trade with Germany, Slovenia’s main trading partner, was broadly flat, exports to Croatia and France increased as did imports from Italy and Austria.

Exports to non-EU markets surged by as much as 49% to EUR 853 million and imports were up by almost 30% to EUR 790 million.

The statisticians say that growth in trade with these markets was mainly due to growing trade with Switzerland, Slovenia’s largest trading partner outside the EU that month.

There was also a significant growth in exports to Serbia and Russia and imports from Turkey and China.

In the first three quarters of the year, Slovenia exported EUR 25.11bn worth of goods and imported EUR 25.14bn, up 9.6% and 11.8%, respectively.

The export/import ratio was 99.9% with a trade deficit of EUR 35 million.




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