For the first time this year, imports also recorded a year-on-year increase. Slovakia’s trade balance ended in a significant plus for the fourth consecutive month in April 2024. Thus, the foreign trade surplus in the first four months of 2024 was more than twice as high as in the same period last year.
According to the preliminary results, in April 2024, Slovakia exported goods worth1) EUR 9 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 6.3%. The increase in exports was the highest since June 2023. The most significant contributor was higher exports of automobiles.
The value of imports2) increased by 4.4% to EUR 8.5 billion. The value of imported goods was higher year-on-year for the first time this year. It was mainly influenced by a nearly 21% increase in the value of imported miscellaneous industrial products, which include items such as display panels, seats and plastic products.
The foreign trade balance was active at €465.8 million, an improvement of €172.5 million compared to the same period last year.
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Of the ten classes in the export structure, as many as nine showed year-on-year growth in the fourth month of the year. The most traded class of foreign trade, Machinery and Transport Equipment (SITC 7), which also includes exports of automobiles, had a significant impact on the development of Slovak exports. After three months, the value of exported machinery and transport equipment again showed a year-on-year growth of almost 4%.
In the structure of imports, seven of the ten classes showed year-on-year growth. The increase in total imports was mainly driven by an increase in the value of imports in the Miscellaneous manufactured goods class (SITC 8). The value of imported goods in this class was 20.9% higher year-on-year.
The most traded SITC class in the country’s foreign trade was machinery and transport equipment, accounting for 61.9% of total exports and 48.7% of total imports.
EU Member EÚ3) accounted for 78.6% of SR exports and 66.9% of imports. Exports to EU Member States increased by 9.1% year-on-year in April. Imports from EU Member States increased by 7.2%. Exports to non-EU countries fell by 3.1% year-on-year and imports from these countries were down by 0.8%.
Preliminary data for January to April 2024
For the first four months of this year, exports fell by 3.7% year-on-year to €35.1 billion and imports fell by 7.2% to €33 billion. The foreign trade balance was active at EUR 2.2 billion. It was EUR 1.2 billion lower in the same period last year.
Refined details for January-March 2024
For January-March 2024, exports fell by 6.7% year-on-year to €26.1 billion and imports declined by 10.7% to €24.5 billion, according to the refined data. The foreign trade balance was active at EUR 1.7 billion. In the same period last year, the foreign trade balance ended with a surplus of EUR 637.2 million.
- 1) Data are in current prices at FOB value, i.e. they include the transaction value of goods and the value of services (e.g. transport, insurance, transhipment, storage of goods, etc.) associated with the delivery of goods to the border of the exporting country. All foreign trade data were compiled by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic on the basis of data from the Customs Section of the Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic obtained in the framework of customs procedures and from INTRASTAT-SK statistical surveys (reports provided by importers and exporters of goods within the EU).
- 2) As part of the data improvement process, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic expanded the sources of import data during 2023 and included in the statistical outputs data for natural and legal persons not registered for VAT who purchased goods remotely (e.g. via the internet) within the EU. These data have been incorporated into the statistical outputs from January 2022.
- 3) EU data are from January 2020 excluding the UK
Data source DATAcube database:
Preliminary data:
- Foreign trade by month [zo0001ms]
- Seasonally adjusted foreign trade data [zo0005ms]
- Zahraničný obchod podľa tried SITC Rev. 4 [zo0006ms]
- Foreign trade with selected countries by SITC Rev. 4 nomenclature classes [zo0018ms]
- Foreign trade by country, continent and economic grouping [zo0011ms]
- Foreign trade by Harmonised System classes [zo0012ms]
- Foreign trade by chapter of the Harmonised System [zo0010ms]
- Foreign trade by main economic categories (BEC) [zo0007ms]
- Foreign trade by statistical classification of products by activity (CPA) [zo0009ms]
Outputs on the topic Foreign Trade
Classifications of foreign trade:
Foreign trade statistics are compiled in four different classifications. The Combined Nomenclature (CN) is the primary nomenclature used by all EU Member States to report foreign trade in goods when collecting data. It is based on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) and is subject to annual revisions to ensure that it is up-to-date. It is subdivided into classes (indicated by Roman numerals), chapters (HS2), headings (HS4) and subheadings (HS6) of the Harmonised System, which, by adding two more digits, form a subheading of the Combined Nomenclature (CN8).
The converters make it possible to transpose the detailed data collected under the CN into other classifications such as:
- Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), which correlates with the subheadings of the Harmonised System,
- The Broad Economic Classification (BEC), which groups goods into economic categories with regard to their end use,
- The Statistical Classification of Products by Activity (CPA), which allows linking products that share common characteristics with activities defined according to NACE.
Provisional data:
They are published monthly, at the latest 6 weeks after the end of the reference month, according to the Calendar of First Publication in the SITC classification, Rev. 4 (at the level of the 10 basic classes).
Detailed refined data:
They are published monthly with a lag of 1 month (up to about 70 days after the end of the reference month), both by Harmonised System (HS4 structure – about 1 200 goods items) and by partner countries.