Slovenia exported EUR 11.34bn worth of merchandise in the first half of the year, of which EUR 8.66bn to EU countries, figures released by the Statistics Office on Friday show.

Exports to EU markets were up 7.5% year-on-year with exports to Croatia, Austria and Germany rising the most. Meanwhile, the value of goods exported elsewhere fell by 0.7%

Imports in the first half of the year totalled EUR 11.14bn with imports from EU countries falling by 1.4% year-on-year to EUR 8.7bn and imports from other markets increasing by 7.4% to EUR 2.43bn.

The top export item was medications, while the chief import products was oils obtained from bituminous minerals.

The surplus in trade with the rest of the world amounted to EUR 208.5m with the exports-imports ratio at 101.9%.

The biggest monthly surplus this year was recorded in June at EUR 105.5m; exports were up 8.4% from June 2013 to EUR 1.95bn and imports rose 5.4% to EUR 1.84bn.

Exports to EU markets increased by 7.6% to EUR 1.47bn and exports to other countries by 11% to EUR 478.9m; imports were up 0.3% to EUR 1.44bn and up 28.4% to EUR 404.3, respectively in June 2013-June 2014.