The import structure of consumed food shows from which countries and which agricultural products Slovenia imports the most. The total amount of food imports is also shown. The indicator covers a set of agricultural products: cereals, meat, eggs, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, sugar and rice.

The indicator shows the structure of the origin of the consumed food, the structure of imported food by countries, agricultural products and total imports.

Monitoring the import structure of consumed food is also important from the point of view of food security and access to food in Slovenia. Global megatrends show that climate changes in the future may influence food production in Slovenia and increase the dependence of food on the world market, which may also affect food prices in Slovenia.

Structure of imported consumed food is compared between the periods before EU accession (2000–2003), post-accession period (2004–2013) and the period of recent years (2014–2018). Consumed food includes domestic production and imports of agricultural products, minus exports. Before EU accession (2000–2003) almost 60 % of the consumed food in Slovenia was of Slovenian origin and the remaining 40 % of food was imported. In the post-accession period (2004–2013) the ratio changed, 60 % of the consumed food was imported and 40 % was of domestic origin. This gap has widened since, in the recent period (2014–2018) more than 70 % of consumed food was imported and less than one third of consumed food was of domestic origin. Several factors contributed to the sharp increase in the share of the food imports over the last two decades. Domestic production of agricultural products is declining and was on average one fifth lower in recent years (2014–2018) than in the period before EU accession (2000–2003). The input and exports of agricultural products are increasing. For example, the exports in recent years were on average four times higher than in the period before EU accession, while imports did not grow as strongly (+50 %). After EU accession, the exports of raw materials or unprocessed agricultural products increased significantly, but at the same time the imports of processed products also increased. Domestic production of agricultural products has declined and at the same time exports have increased, so less food of Slovenian origin is available on the domestic market.

Structure of import of food changes over the years. Most food is imported from the EU–28 (85 %). About 65 % of the food is imported from the neighbouring countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy and Hungary) and this share has remained relatively constant over the years. In the period before EU accession (2000–2003), more than 60 % of food was imported from Hungary (37 %), Italy (13 %) and Austria (11 %). In the post-accession period (2004–2013) the share of food imported from Hungary decreased while the share of imports from Austria, Italy, Croatia and Germany increased. Major changes in the structure of food imports have been observed in the recent years. The share of food imported from Hungary continues to decrease, as does the share of food imports from Italy. After 2013, food imports from Croatia increased strongly (Croatia joined the EU in 2013), and the share of imports from Germany also increased slightly. Apart from neighbouring countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Slovakia are also important food importers from the EU–28. Countries outside the EU–28 that are among the most important food importers are Serbia, Egypt, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica.  

The structure of imports of agricultural products changes over the years. On average, in the period of recent years (2014–2018), most cereals (40 %), fruit (25 %), vegetables (12 %) and sugar (10 %) are imported. Compared to the period before EU accession (2000–2003), the share of cereal imports has decreased (from 55 % to 40 %) and the share of fruit imports has increased significantly (from 17 % to 24 %). After 2005, when the only sugar factory in Slovenia was closed, sugar imports also increased significantly (in the period 2014–2018 sugar imports increased by 125 % compared to the period before EU accession).

In general, quantitative imports of all agricultural products are increasing in the period 2000–2019. Since the beginning of the 21^st century, imports of fruit (by more than 200 thousand tonnes), potatoes and sugar have increased significantly. The majority of grain imports in the last five years, 90 %, are imports of corn and wheat. As for fruit, bananas and citrus fruits are the most important imports (60 % of total fruit imports). Among vegetable imports, tomatoes, peppers, onions and watermelons dominate, accounting for 50 % of total vegetable imports. As far as meat is concerned, pork and poultry are the main imports (60 % of total meat imports).

According to the preliminary data, in 2019 just over 1.464 thousand tonnes of food were imported, 59 % came from neighbouring countries. The most imported were cereals with 546 thousand tonnes of (37 %), followed by fruit (350 thousand tonnes or 24 %), vegetables (177 thousand tonnes or 12 %), sugar (146 thousand tonnes or 10 %), potatoes (117 thousand tonnes or 8 %) and meat (111 thousand tonnes or 8 %).