Exports reached EUR 11.93bn between January and June, while imports were at EUR 11.57bn. The trade surplus reached EUR 355.7m.

Data for June are also optimistic, with exports going up by 10.9% compared to the same month last year to EUR 2.15bn, while imports were up 6.6% to EUR 1.98bn.

The import to export ratio was at 108.4% in June and the export surplus reached EUR 167.3m, the highest monthly value this year.

The surplus was created due to an increase in exports to EU members and a drop in imports from countries outside the EU, the Statistics Office also said.

In June, trade between Slovenia and EU members accounted for over three-quarters of the country's total trade.

More than 76% of exports came from other EU countries and nearly 80% of imports came from there.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) welcomed the favourable trends, saying the value of Slovenia's exports significantly surpassed the value from the record year 2008.

In the first half of 2008, exports were up 6.6% year-on-year to EUR 10.27bn, with the trade gap at EUR 1.37bn.

"The export segment of the Slovenian economy tapped very well into the situation on global markets in the first half of the year," its director general Samo Hribar Milič said in a written statement for the STA.

He warned however that while Slovenian exporters were optimistic about the future due to favourable international trends, "they have pointed out that domestic reforms would also be needed to secure long-term and stable economic growth and exports".