Ljubljana, 04 June (STA) - Slovenian companies exported some EUR 5.8 billion and imported EUR 6.2 billion in goods in April, which is 2.4% less and 8% more year-on-year, respectively. In the first four months of the year, exports were up by 34% to EUR 27.4 billion, and imports rose by 14% to EUR 24.8 million, the Statistics Office announced on Wednesday.
The value of exports to EU member states in April dropped by 2.7% year-on-year to some EUR 2.7 billion, while exports to non-EU countries decreased by 2.1% to EUR 3.1 billion.
Without operations involving processing, exports to non-EU countries increased by 3.5% to EUR 895 million.
Operations involving processing include modification, manufacture, composition, improvement and renovation with the aim to produce a new or significantly improved product. They are most common in the pharmaceutical industry and in trade with Switzerland, the Statistics Office explained.
Imports from the EU member states dropped by 4.7% to EUR 2.7 billion, while imports from non-EU countries were up by 20.5% to EUR 3.5 billion. Without operations involving processing, the latter decreased by 2.9% to EUR 761 million.
A EUR 446,500 deficit in trade was recorded in April, with exports representing 92.8% of imports that month.
In the first four months of the year, Slovenian companies exported nearly EUR 27.4 billion and imported almost EUR 24.8 billion worth of goods, which is 34% and 14% more year-on-year, respectively.
In the January-April period, exports to non-EU countries were up by some 70% to EUR 16.7 billion, while imports from these countries increased by 25% year-on-year to EUR 13.5 billion.
The main reason for such a high growth is operations involving processing, the Statistics Office said, noting the steadily increasing activity of the Swiss pharmaceutical giants Sandoz and Novartis in Slovenia.
The value of exports to the EU member states increased by 0.6% year-on-year to EUR 10.7 billion, while imports were up by 3.4% to EUR 11.2 billion.
The total trade surplus in the first four months amounted to EUR 2.6 billion, with exports representing 110.6% of imports.
