That dollar amount results from a 15.6% increase from $93.4 billion in 2018.
From 2021 to 2022, the overall value of Slovakian exports rose 3.1% compared to $104.7 billion.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, Slovakia uses the euro which depreciated by -12.1% against the US dollar since 2018 and diluted by -12.3% from 2021 to 2022. The weaker EU currency 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, television receivers or monitors and projectors, phone devices including smartphones, and refined petroleum oils. Collectively, that cohort of major products represents 39.8% of total Slovakian revenues from export sales in 2022. That percentage suggests a relatively concentrated portfolio of exports.
Slovak’s Most Valuable Exports Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 80.1% of products exported from Slovakia was bought by importers in: Germany (21% of the Slovakian total), Czech Republic (12%), Hungary (8.7%), Poland (7.8%), France (5.9%), Austria (5.3%), Italy (4.8%), United Kingdom (3.9%), United States of America (3.4%), mainland China (2.54%), Romania (2.5%) and Spain (2.3%).
From a continental perspective, 88.5% of Slovakia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 5.9% was sold to importers in Asia. Slovakia shipped another 3.9% worth of goods to North America.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Africa (0.8%), Latin America (0.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.4%) led by Australia.
Given Slovakia’s population of 5.44 million people, its total $108 billion in 2022 exported goods translates to roughly $19,900 for every resident in the Central European nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $19,100 per capita one year earlier in 2021.
Slovakia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Slovakian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Slovakia.
- Vehicles: US$33 billion (30.5% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $17.2 billion (15.9%)
- Machinery including computers: $12.7 billion (11.8%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $5.6 billion (5.2%)
- Iron, steel: $5.6 billion (5.2%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $3.2 billion (3%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $2.9 billion (2.7%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $2.8 billion (2.6%)
- Aluminum: $1.7 billion (1.6%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: $1.6 billion (1.5%)
Slovakia’s top 10 exports accounted for 79.9% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 67.5% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales were items made from iron or steel via a 10.1% advance.
Slovakia’s shipments of rubber both as materials and items made from rubber posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 9.4%.
The leading decliner among Slovakia’s top 10 export categories was furniture, bedding, lighting, signs and prefabricated buildings pulled down by a -5.4% year-over-year reduction.
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 (24.4% of the Slovakian total), then automobile parts or accessories (5%) trailed by television reception apparatus, monitors and projectors (4.4%), phone devices including smartphones (3.5%), refined petroleum oils (2.5%), electrical energy (2.2%), new rubber tires (2%), insulated wire or cable (1.6%), products made from hot-rolled iron or non-alloy steel (1.3%), then air or vacuum pumps (1.2%).
Products Behind Slovakia’s Best Trade Surpluses
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$15.9 billion (Down by -7.2% since 2021.)
- Iron, steel: $1.5 billion (Down by -18.2%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $764.7 million (Up by 34.7%)
- Cereals: $523.4 million (Up by 18.3%)
- Machinery including computers: $407.1 million (Reversing a -$152 million deficit)
- Paper, paper items: $394.5 million (Up by 86%)
- Fertilizers: $381.4 million (Up by 96.6%)
- Wood: $336.3 million (Down by -7.5%)
- Arms, ammunition: $275.9 million (Up by 5743.6%)
- Oil seeds: $275.8 million (Up by 33%)
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
The Slovak Republic reversed an overall -US$7.2 billion trade deficit in 2022 snowballing by 1,663% from -$408.4 million in red ink one year earlier in 2021.
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$10.7 billion (Up by 89.4% since 2021)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$5 billion (Up by 22.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$2 billion (Down by -1.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.2 billion (Up by 9%)
- Ores, slag, ash: -$806.6 million (Down by -22.2%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$739 million (Up by 13.5%)
- Other chemical goods: -$727.4 million (Down by -18.4%)
- Meat: -$607.5 million (Up by 13.1%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$473.7 million (Down by -1.8%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$414.5 million (Up by 121.1%)
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 50.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($214.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 50.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 53.9% for 2021. 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 6.125% for 2022, down from an average 6.842% in 2021 according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.
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 June 16, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 16, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 16, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 16, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 16, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 16, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 16, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Slovakia. Accessed on June 16, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 16, 2023
Wikipedia, Slovakia. Accessed on June 16, 2023