The country recorded a surplus of EUR 393.9m in foreign trade with the export-import ratio at 101.7% in 2014.

The rise in exports was mainly due to a continued growth in exports to EU member states, while sales to non-EU markets slowed down less than the year before.

The most substantial increase in exports among Slovenia's main trade partners was to Croatia, Italy and Austria with exports to France up in the second half of the year.

The biggest hike was registered in the group of cars, which also contributed the most to the overall growth in exports, after pharmaceutical products.

The most pronounced growth in imports was from the markets of Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Austria, South Korea and China.

Among groups of products, the increase was generated mainly through an increase in the imports of cars and car parts and accessories, and telecommunications equipment.

But the biggest portion of imports in 2014 represented goods from the group of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude. In terms of value these exports declined from 2013 but remained flat by volume.

In December 2014 alone Slovenia exported EUR 1.83bn worth of goods and imported EUR 1.76bn, a surge of 12.6% and 2.2% compared with the same month a year ago.

Around three-quarters of trade was with EU member states: 74.6% of all merchandise exports and 79.2% of all merchandise imports.

The value of goods exported to EU markets in December was up 17% year-on-year to EUR 1.36bn and the value of imports from those markets rose 1.6% to EUR 1.40bn.

Exports to non-EU countries rose by 1.4% to EUR 463.7m and imports from there were up 4.2% to EUR 366.9m.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) said the data confirmed the strength of Slovenian exporters, in particular the car industry and pharmaceuticals, the latter having managed to cope with the difficult situation in the former Soviet Union.

The chamber expects export to slow down somewhat this year but still grow at 3%-5% this year, buoyed by low prices of oil and raw materials, Bojan Ivanc of the GZS's analytical task force told the STA.