Ljubljana - Slovenia exported EUR 3.6 billion worth of goods in October and imported EUR 4 billion in merchandise in what is the highest volume on both sides for that month in ten years. Year-on-year, exports were up by 14.2% and imports surged by 35.7%, data from the Statistics Office shows.

Compared to October 2019, before the pandemic, exports rose by 16.9% and imports went up by 26%. Except for January, exports and imports this year were above the respective 2019 values in every month so far.

Slovenia recorded a trade gap for the seventh straight month, amounting to EUR 0.4 billion as the export-import ratio was 89.3.

Trade with EU countries increased by about a fifth year-on-year, with exports and imports balanced at EUR 2.5 billion.

Exports to markets outside the EU amounted to EUR 1.1 billion and imports to EUR 1.6 billion, up by 6.9% monthly and by as much as 69% from October 2020.

"A significant share can be attributed to the operations involving processing," which includes modification, making, composition, improvement and renovation with the aim to produce new or significantly improved products, the Statistics Office said.

To third markets, Slovenia mostly exported chemical and related products. In terms of exports, Switzerland was the top partner, which was also the main source of imports along with China.

In the first ten months, exports were up by 18.9% and imports by 30.4% year-on-year to EUR 32.6 billion and EUR 33.9 billion, respectively. The trade gap amounted to EUR 1.3 billion.