After two years of trade deficits propped up by high imports, Slovenia once again reported a monthly surplus in February though the trade balance remains negative for the first two months of the year.

February exports rose by 28.2% over the year before to €4.6 billion, with exports to non-EU countries surging by almost 62% and exports to the EU increasing by a much more moderate 16.3%.

Imports remained nearly level, gaining 1.4% over the year before to €4.2 billion. Similar to exports, growth was most pronounced in imports from non-EU members, which were up 2.4% year-on-year, whereas imports from the EU ticked up by only 0.8%.

Overall, exports equalled 107.2% of imports.

Trade with non-EU countries is strongly affected by what are known as operations involving processing, which are the main reason why Switzerland is Slovenia's largest trading partner.

Processing operations excluded, Germany remains the biggest trading partner, followed by Italy, Croatia and Austria.

Data for the first two months of the year show that exports increased by 14% over the year before and imports were up 29.8%. The trade balance was negative and the exports-imports ratio stood at 99.4.