Over a longer period of time, the indicator monitors the origin of available food (domestic or foreign) and the structure of food imports to Slovenia. Within the indicator, the structure of food imports is presented in more detail, namely by major partner countries and groups of countries, as well as the structure and quantity of imports by individual agricultural commodities. In the indicator, food is defined as a set of the following agricultural products in their raw and processed form: cereals, meat, eggs, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, sugar and rice.

Monitoring the food trade flows is important for ensuring food security and affordability of food in Slovenia. Food security refers to the extent to which a country can meet its food needs, which can be achieved through two different mechanisms: self-sufficiency or imports from other countries. A high self-sufficiency level in food production is particularly important in times of restricted international trade and major price fluctuations in foreign markets, as we have witnessed recently. Global megatrends indicate that climate change may further threaten food production in Slovenia in the future and increase the dependence on the global food market, which could also affect food accessibility.

The average structure of the origin and import flows of food will be compared between the periods before Slovenia’s accession to the EU (2000–2003), post-accession period (2004–2019), and the most recent five-year period (2020–2024). Estimates of food origin show that before EU accession (2000–2003), on average, just over half (52%) of all food available in Slovenia was of domestic origin, while less than half was of foreign origin. In the post-accession period (2004–2019) the ratio was reversed: on average, 65% of available food was imported, while 35% was of domestic origin. This gap has widened further since; in the most recent five-year period (2020–2024), as much as 82% of available food was imported, while only 18% was produced in Slovenia. Several factors have influenced the increase in the share of imported food over the past two decades. The first is the intensive growth of both food imports and exports. For comparison, the average quantity of food exports in the last five-year period were nearly five times higher than before Slovenia’s EU accession, while food imports did not increase as significantly (+70%). Meanwhile, the domestic production of agricultural products has remained at a similar level throughout the entire analysed period. In the last five years, it has not changed compared to the pre-accession period. Since domestic food production has remained relatively stable, while both import and export flows have increased, less food of Slovenian origin is available on the domestic market, considering our assumptions.

The structure of food imports by partner country has changed over the years. In the most recent five-year period (2020–2024), the majority of food of foreign origin imported to Slovenia came EU Member States (84%). About 60% of imported food originated from neighbouring countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy and Hungary), and this share remained relatively stable throughout the analysed period (2020–2024). Looking at individual partner countries, in the period before Slovenia’s accession to the EU (2000–2003), the largest share of imported food came on average from Hungary (38%), Italy (13%), and Austria (10%), together accounting for just over 60% of total imports. This structure remained relatively similar in the period immediately following EU accession, while more significant changes in the composition of food imports occurred after 2014. In the most recent five-year period, the largest share of food imports came from Croatia (20%), followed by Hungary (14%), Austria (13%) and Italy (11%). Among EU-27 Member States, other important import partners included Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and France. Non-member countries, that were among the most important food importers to Slovenia were Ecuador, Serbia, Egypt, and Colombia.

The structure of food imports by agricultural product has also changed over the years. In the most recent five-year period (2020–2024), the main imported commodities were on average cereals (36%), fruit (24%), vegetables (12%) and sugar (10%). Compared to the pre-accession period (2000–2003), the share of cereal imports decreased (from 56% to 36%), while the share of fruit imports increased noticeably (from 17% to 24%). After 2005, when Slovenia’s only sugar factory closed, sugar imports also increased noticeably (in the period 2020–2024 sugar imports were on average 182% higher than in the pre-accession period). Overall, the volume of imports increased for all agricultural products during the entire analysed period (2000–2024). The most notable growth was recorded for fruit (by more than 200,000 tonnes annually), sugar (by about 100,000 tonnes), and meat and potatoes (by about 80,000 tonnes).

In 2024, Slovenia imported just over 1.5 million tonnes of food, 58% of which originated from neighbouring countries. The largest share consisted of cereals (548 thousand tonnes, or 36%), followed by fruit (364 thousand tonnes, or 24%), vegetables (173 thousand tonnes, or 11%), sugar (154 thousand tonnes, or 10%), potatoes (142 thousand tonnes, or 9 %), meat (134 thousand tonnes, or 9%), rice (17 thousand tonnes, or 1%), and eggs (5 thousand tonnes, or 0.3%). The bulk of cereal imports (89%) consisted of grain maize and wheat. Among fruit, bananas and citrus fruits accounted for the largest share – together about 60% of total fruit imports - while the most imported meat types were pork and poultry (80% of total meat imports).