Slovenia's trade surplus thus stood at almost EUR 383m in the January-to-March period, while exports-to-imports ratio was at 106.8%.

On the other hand, Slovenian companies exported EUR 2.17bn worth of goods in March, which is 0.3% less than in March 2015. Imports stood at EUR 2.04bn, down 0.8% year-on-year. Trade surplus stood at EUR 133.9m in March and the exports-to-imports ratio at 106.6%.

Despite the drop, trade in March was higher than last year's average. Exports were higher by 8.8% and imports by 5.4%, the Statistics Office said.

In March, more than three quarters of Slovenian trade was conducted with EU countries: in exports, the share was at 76.7% and in imports at 79.7%.

Slovenian companies exported EUR 1.67bn worth of goods to EU members, which is 1.6% down from March last year, and imports stood at EUR 1.62bn, which is down 2.7%.

Meanwhile, exports to non-EU members grew by 4% to EUR 507m and imports from them by 7.4% to EUR 414.4m.