That dollar amount results from a 30.2% increase from $89.9 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
From 2022 to 2023, the overall value of Slovakian exports rose 8.2% compared to $108.2 billion.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, Slovakia uses the euro which depreciated by -3.5% against the US dollar since 2019 but gained 2.6% from 2022 to 2023. The weaker EU currency compared to 2019 makes Slovakia’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Officially named the Slovak Republic, Slovakia is a member of the European Union strategically located in Central Europe. The mountainous country shares its northern border with Poland, eastern border with Ukraine, southern border with Hungary and western border with the Czech Republic and Austria.
Slovakia top 5 most valuable exported products are cars, automobile parts or accessories, phone devices including smartphones, television receivers or monitors and projectors, and rubber tires. Collectively, that cohort of major products represents 43.7% of total Slovakian revenues from export sales in 2023. That percentage suggests a relatively concentrated portfolio of exports.
Slovak’s Most Valuable Exports Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 78.7% of products exported from Slovakia was bought by importers in: Germany (21% of the Slovakian total), Czech Republic (12.1%), Poland (7.3%), Hungary (7.1%), France (5.3%), Austria (5.1%), Italy (4.5%), United States of America (also 4.5%), United Kingdom (4.3%), mainland China (2.7%), Romania (2.5%) and Spain (2.3%).
From a continental perspective, 86.1% of Slovakia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 6.8% were sold to importers in Asia. Slovakia shipped another 5.2% worth of goods to North America.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Africa (0.8%), Latin America (0.6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.4%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Slovakia sold 77.2% of its exports by value to other European Union member states.
Given Slovakia’s population of 5.43 million people, its total $117.1 billion in 2023 exported goods translates to roughly $21,600 for every resident in the Central European nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $19,900 per capita one year earlier in 2022.
Slovakia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Slovakian global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Slovakia.
- Vehicles: US$41.3 billion (35.3% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $18.4 billion (15.7%)
- Machinery including computers: $13.5 billion (11.6%)
- Iron, steel: $4.7 billion (4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $4.1 billion (3.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.98 billion (2.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $2.97 billion (2.5%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $2.94 billion (2.5%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: $1.6 billion (1.4%)
- Aluminum: $1.4 billion (1.2%)
Slovakia’s top 10 exports generated 80.3% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Vehicles was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 26% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was rubber including both materials and items made from rubber via a 7.2% advance.
Slovakia’s shipments of electrical machinery and equipment posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 6.4%.
The leading decliner among Slovakia’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, recording a -26.9% year-over-year drop. Processed petroleum oils was a big loser under that product category.
The above listed product categories are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System codes, Slovakia’s most valuable exported products are cars (28.3% of the Slovakian total), then automobile parts or accessories (6%) trailed by phone devices including smartphones (4.2%), television reception apparatus, monitors and projectors (3.2%), new rubber tires (2%), insulated wire or cable (1.6%), refined petroleum oils (1.6%), electrical energy (also 1.6%), electrical lighting or signaling equipment and defrosters (1.2%), then air or vacuum pumps (1.1%).
Products Behind Slovakia’s Best Trade Surpluses
The Slovak Republic reversed an overall -US$7.55 billion trade deficit for 2022 producing a $1.71 billion surplus one year later in 2023.
The following types of Slovakian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Vehicles: US$20 billion (Up by 27.1% since 2022.)
- Iron, steel: $1.2 billion (Down by -13.7%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $851.2 million (Up by 9.5%)
- Cereals: $491.3 million (Down by -16.8%)
- Railways, streetcars: $488.5 million (Up by 62.2%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $465.7 million (Up by 4307.1%)
- Wood: $413.6 million (Up by 28.6%)
- Paper, paper items: $338.7 million (Down by -10.8%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $304 million (Up by 52.2%)
- Oil seeds: $263.7 million (Down by -1.5%)
Slovakia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of cars. In turn, these cashflows indicate Slovakia’s strong competitive advantages under the vehicles product category.
Products Causing Slovakia’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Slovakia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Slovakia’s goods trail Slovakian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$5.8 billion (Down by -45.3% since 2022)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$4.4 billion (Down by -12.9%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$2.1 billion (Up by 3.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.4 billion (Up by 5%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$811.1 million (Up by 4.6%)
- Meat: -$721.4 million (Up by 13.7%)
- Other chemical goods: -$611.9 million (Down by -17.3%)
- Ores, slag, ash: -$608.1 million (Down by -24.6%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$511.6 million (Up by 10.3%)
- Tanning, dyes, paints, varnishes, ink: -$393.5 million (Up by 0.3%)
Slovakia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for petroleum gases, crude oil and coal under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Slovakian Export Companies
Not one Slovakian corporation ranked among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list companies from Slovakia that engage in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Elnec (programmable circuit systems)
- Glass LPS (crystal products)
- Matador (tires)
- Slovalco (aluminum)
- Slovenský plynárenský priemysel AS (natural gas)
- Slovnaft (refined oil, petrochemicals)
- ZTS OSOS (ammunition)
In macroeconomic terms, Slovakia’s total exported goods represent 49.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($236.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 49.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 50.3% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Slovakia’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Also, note that these metrics include a significant amount of re-exporting activity partly driven by Slovakia’s strategic geographic location.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Slovakia’s unemployment rate averaged 5.817% for 2023, down from an average 6.167% in 2022 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
The Slovak Republic’s capital city is Bratislava.
See also Slovakia’s Top Trading Partners, Top EU Export Countries, Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Czech Republic’s Top Trading Partners and Poland’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: Slovakia. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 30, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on October 30, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 30, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Slovakia. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 30, 2024
Wikipedia, Slovakia. Accessed on October 30, 2024