That dollar amount results from a 58.4% rise from $37.6 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of Slovenian exports increased by 7.6% compared to $55.3 billion starting from 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, Slovenia’s legal currency is the euro which depreciated by -3.5% against the US dollar since 2019 but appreciated by 2.6% from 2022 to 2023. The weaker European Union currency since 2019 made Slovenian exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Slovenia’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 79.1% of products exported from Slovenia was bought by importers in: Switzerland (27.2% of the Slovenian total), Germany (13.5%), Italy (8.6%), Croatia (7.8%), Austria (5.7%), France (3.3%), Serbia (2.6%), Poland (2.4%), Hungary (2.2%), Russia (2%), Czech Republic (1.9%) then Bosnia and Herzegovina (1.8%).
From a continental perspective, 92.6% of Slovenia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 4.2% were sold to importers in Asia. Slovenia shipped another 1.9% worth of goods to buyers in North America.
Smaller percentages went to customers in Africa (0.7%), Latin America (0.3%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (also 0.3%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Slovenia’s population of 2.12 million people, its total $59.5 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $28,100 for every resident in the south-central European nation. That dollar metric outpaces the average $26,300 per capita one year earlier for 2022.
Slovenia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Slovenian global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Slovenia.
- Pharmaceuticals: US$20.2 billion (33.9% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $5.5 billion (9.2%)
- Machinery including computers: $5.02 billion (8.4%)
- Vehicles: $5.01 billion (8.4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $3.3 billion (5.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.0 billion (3.3%)
- Aluminum: $1.6 billion (2.7%)
- Iron, steel: $1.4 billion (2.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $1.15 billion (1.9%)
- Wood: $1.07 billion (1.8%)
Slovenia’s top 10 export product categories generated over three-quarters (77.6%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Pharmaceuticals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 31.7% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was the vehicles category via a 9.5% advance.
Slovenia’s shipments of machinery including computers posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 7.8%.
The leading decliner among Slovenia’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, pulled down by a -24.2% year-over-year drop.
The above listed product groups are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, Slovenia’s most lucrative exported product is medication mixes in dosage (31.2% of the Slovenian total). In second place were cars (4.7%) trailed by processed petroleum oils (3.7%), blood fractions including antisera (2.4%), automobile parts or accessories (2.3%), electrical energy (1.7%), new rubber tires (1.1%), heterocyclics and nucleic acids (0.9%), machinery parts (0.9%) then electric water heaters and hair dryers (also 0.9%).
Products Driving Slovenia’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Slovenian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Pharmaceuticals: US$11.4 billion (Up by 81.5% since 2022)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $794.8 million (Up by 52.4%)
- Machinery including computers: $735.6 million (Up by 32%)
- Wood: $388.4 million (Down by -13.2%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: $372.9 million (Up by 2.9%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $355 million (Up by 59.8%)
- Tanning, dyes, paints, varnishes, ink: $269 million (Down by -14.9%)
- Paper, paper items: $212.3 million (Down by -31.6%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: $154.9 million (Up by 53.2%)
- Stone, plaster, cement, asbestos: $151.6 million (Up by 11.6%)
Slovenia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of pharmaceuticals. In turn, that cashflow indicates Slovenia’s strong competitive advantage under the pharmaceuticals product category.
Products Causing Slovenia’s Worst Trade Deficits
Slovenia incurred an overall -US$2.2 billion trade deficit for 2023, reducing by -48.9% from -$4.3 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Slovenia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Slovenia’s goods trail Slovenian importer spending on foreign products.
- Organic chemicals: -US$10.9 billion (Up by 97.3% since 2022)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$2.3 billion (Down by -38.3%)
- Iron, steel: -$646.4 million (Down by -5.9%)
- Fruits, nuts: -$209.7 million (Up by 38.4%)
- Woodpulp: -$205.7 million (Down by -3.5%)
- Cereal/milk preparations: -$195.4 million (Up by 21.9%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: -$195.2 million (Up by 19.3%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -$193.2 million (Up by 10.8%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: -$190.1 million (Up by 18.6%)
- Meat: -$189.2 million (Up by 34.0%)
Slovenia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for organic chemicals as well as mineral fuels-related products–particularly refined oils, petroleum gases and electrical energy.
Slovenian Export Companies
Not one Slovenian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia also lists companies based in Slovenia. Selected examples are shown below.
- Academa (custom software)
- Adria Mobil (motorhomes)
- Akrapovič (motorcycle exhaust systems)
- Alpina Žiri (shoes, boots)
- Gorenje (home appliances)
- Krka (pharmaceuticals)
- Litostroj (heavy machinery)
- Tomos (motorcycles)
In macroeconomic terms, Slovenia’s total exported goods represent 52.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($113.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 52.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 52.6% for 2022. This suggests a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Slovenia’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Please note that those percentages include a significant amount of re-exporting activity partly due to the country’s proximity to European trading hubs notably the economic powerhouse Germany.
Another key economic signal is a country’s unemployment rate. In 2023, Slovenia’s jobless rate averaged 3.675% down from an average 4% for 2022.
Slovenia’s capital city is Ljubljana.
See also Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Lithuania’s Top 10 Exports, Croatia’s Top 10 Exports and Top EU Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: Slovenia. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 3, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (National Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on November 3, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 3, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Latvia. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Slovenia. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Latvia. Accessed on November 3, 2024