Over a longer period of time, the indicator monitors the origin of available food (domestic or foreign) and import of food to Slovenia. The indicator shows the structure of food imports in more detail, namely by important partner countries and groups of countries, as well as the structure and quantity of import by individual agricultural commodities. Within the indicator the 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 flows is important for the food security and affordability of food in Slovenia. Food security is 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. High self-sufficiency in food production is very important, especially in the conditions of limited international trade and major price fluctuations on foreign markets, which we have witnessed in the recent period. Global megatrends show that climate changes in the future may further influence food production in Slovenia and increase the dependence on global food market, which may also affect access to food.

The average structure of the origin and import of food will be compared between the periods before EU accession (2000–2003), post-accession period (2004–2017) and the period of the last few years (2018–2022). Estimates of the origin of food show that before EU accession (2000–2003), slightly more than half (52%) of the available food in Slovenia was of domestic origin, while less than half of the available food was imported. In the post-accession period (2004–2017) the ratio was reversed, 63% of the available food was imported and 37% was of domestic origin. This ratio has increased since, in the recent period (2018–2022) already 80% of available food was imported, while 20% was produced in Slovenia. Such an increase in the share of food imports in the last two decades was influenced by several factors. Namely, both the import and export of food have been increasing sharply. For example, the average quantity of exports in recent years was almost five times higher than in the period before EU accession, while imports did not increase as significantly (+65%). 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. Meanwhile, the domestic production of agricultural products remains at a similar level throughout the analysed period, with an average increase of 2% over the last few years (2018–2022) compared to the pre-EU period (2000–2003). Since domestic food production remains at a similar, while its imports and exports are increasing, less food of Slovenian origin is available on the domestic market, considering our two assumptions.

The structure of food import by partner countries has changed over the years. Most of the food of foreign origin was imported to Slovenia from EU member states in the recent period (85%). About 60% of food was imported from neighbouring countries (Austria, Croatia, Italy and Hungary), and this share has remained relatively stable over the years. If we look at the individual partner countries, in the period before EU accession (2000–2003), the majority of food was on average imported from Hungary (38%), Italy (13%) and Austria (10%), a total of slightly more than 60%. This ratio remained at a similar level in the period immediately after EU accession, and major changes in the structure of food imports occurred after 2014. In the period of recent years (2018–2022), most food was on average imported from Croatia (19%), followed by Hungary (14%), Austria (13%) and Italy (12%). Food imports from Croatia increased significantly after 2013, when the country became a member of the EU, and the share of imports from Germany also increased slightly. Apart from neighbouring countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, and Belgium are also important food importers among the EU–27 members. Non-member countries, that are among the most important food importers to Slovenia are Serbia, Egypt, Colombia and Ecuador.

The structure of food imports by agricultural products has also changed over the years. In the recent period (2018–2022), the main imported commodities are on average cereals (37%), fruit (24%), vegetables (12%) and sugar (10%). Compared to pre-accession period (2000–2003), the share of cereal imports decreased (from 56% to 37%) and the share of fruit imports increased noticeably (from 17% to 24%). After 2005, when the only sugar factory in Slovenia was closed, the import of sugar also increased noticeably (in the period 2018–2022 sugar imports increased on average by 164% compared to the pre-accession period). In general, volume of imports increased for all agricultural products in the analysed period 2000–2022. The most noticeable increase since the beginning of the 21st century, was in the annual import volume of fruit (by more than 200,000 tons), sugar (by 90,000 tons) and meat (by 80,000 tons).

In 2022, slightly more than 1.5 million tonnes of food were imported to Slovenia, of which 56% originated from neighbouring countries. With 521 thousand tonnes (35%), cereals were the most imported commodity, followed by fruit (379 thousand tonnes or 25%), vegetables (188 thousand tonnes or 12%), sugar (161 thousand tonnes or 11%), potatoes (122 thousand tonnes or 8 %), meat (117 thousand tonnes or 8%), rice (16 thousand tonnes or 1%) and eggs (4 thousand tonnes or 0.3%). The bulk of grain imports (86%) represented grain maize and wheat. As for fruit imports, bananas and citrus fruits were the most important, accounting for approximately 60% of total fruit imports. The import of vegetables was dominated by tomatoes and onions (42%), while the most imported meat type were pork and poultry (81% of the total meat import).