According to preliminary data, Slovakia exported goods worth €9.5 billion in April 2026, up 4.5 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), while imports rose by 2.6 percent to €9.4 billion, with the foreign trade balance seeing a surplus of €76 million, up €166.2 million y-o-y, the Statistics Office reported on Tuesday.
According to UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomir Korsnak the conflict in the Middle East and the ensuing higher oil and gas prices probably mean that the trend of gradually expanding nominal foreign trade surpluses is coming to an end. He added that surpluses may start shrinking in the months to come.
He added that the Middle East conflict will probably affect real economic growth as well, both domestically and when it comes to key trading partners. This, in turn, will cause growth in real exports to slow down slightly. Furthermore, fiscal consolidation measures will continue to dampen growth in domestic demand, thereby reducing the demand for imports from abroad.
Slovenska sporitelna analyst Maximilian Weber noted that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain among the significant external risks for future trends in foreign trade.
"This could be translated into increased volatility in oil and gas prices, and also into the costs of industrial production and transport. Higher and more volatile energy prices could make industry less competitive still," stressed Weber.
Concerning the structure of exports, seven of the ten categories recorded annual increases, with the main contributor being a nearly 3-percent increase in machinery and transport equipment (including cars).
On the import side, half of the ten categories saw drops, while the most significant impact came from the category of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which includes imports of oil, electricity and natural gas. This category rose by nearly 39 percent y-o-y, thus breaking a five-month streak of consecutive y-o-y falls.
Almost 80 percent of Slovakia's exports went to other EU countries in April, and imports from them made up some 66 percent of the country's total imports. Exports to other EU countries grew by nearly 7 percent y-o-y, while imports from them increased by more than 7 percent. Exports to non-EU countries declined by more than 3 percent, while imports from them were nearly 6 percent lower than in April 2025.
Foreign trade with other EU-member states recorded a surplus of almost €1.4 billion, while it posted a deficit of more than €1.3 billion with non-EU countries.
In the first four months of this year, meanwhile, exports rose by 1.4 percent y-o-y to €37.7 billion, while imports increased by 0.3 percent to €36.9 billion. Overall, foreign trade posted a surplus of €760.5 million, while for the same period in 2025 the surplus stood at €354.2 million.
Source: TASR
