Swiss Trade Monitor - 08 - The Curious Rise of Slovenia

For a long time, Slovenia was one of the EU member countries with the smallest trade volume with Switzerland. This has changed rapidly within just a few years. Today, Slovenia is Switzerland’s fourth most important partner in the EU for goods trade. For Slovenia, Switzerland is the most important trading partner in the world. The pharmaceutical sector dominates Swiss-Slovenian goods trade. Starting in 2019, HS-30 trade increased from very low levels to more than a billion Swiss Francs a month. In addition, Swiss HS-29 exports (raw pharmaceutical products) add hundreds of millions. We suggest that EU pharma regulation as well as corporate tax motives can explain this development.