Cyprus-Slovak Business Association

(source: Statistical office of the Slovak Republic)

In Slovakia, there are several industries with a long tradition, such as engineering, chemical, electrotechnical engineering, wood-processing and food industry. In general, industry is currently undergoing a phase of rapid growth not only due to strong supply of foreign investors.

Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry

The chemical industry in Slovakia produces a wide range of refined petroleum products and petrochemical products, basic organic and inorganic chemicals and intermediate products, agrochemicals, rubber chemicals, rubber and plastic products and auxiliary industrial preparations.

In the near future, the following will be crucial to the Slovak chemical industry: innovations that represent higher level than R&D and to ensure reliable access to oil and natural gas, as well as the stable supply of electricity.

Mechanical Engineering

Slovakia is well–known as a country with a strong tradition in the machinery industry. For the national economy it is of crucial importance, not only in terms of the GDP and foreign trade, but also for job creation and overall employment.

The main pillars of its industry are the automotive industry and the production of electrical equipment, metals, rubber and plastics. The index of industrial production recorded an annual increase of 12,6% at the end of 2013. 90% of the engineering export goes to EU countries. Slovak engineering is also a key sector of Slovakia’s industry in terms of production contributing with 45% to the total industrial output.

Electrical Engineering Industry

Since 2000, electrical engineering has been the fastest growing industrial sector in Slovakia and it plays an important and irreplaceable role within the Slovak economy. Only a few sectors can boast of such a stable growth in revenues, employment and added value consistently since the 1990s.

The contribution of foreign direct investments has been significant.Many leading companies in this industry decided to establish their production and service facilities for the European market in Slovakia.The electrical engineering has therefore become the second strongest pillar of Slovak industry after automobile production, and the second biggest employer and exporter.

The most important electrotechnical companies in Slovakia:

Automotive Industry

Recently, Slovakia has grown to become one of the leading car producers in world, primarily thanks to the presence of three world-class automotive companies being established in Slovakia: Volkswagen Slovakia in Bratislava (since 1991); PSA Peugeot Citroën Slovakia in Trnava (since 2003) and Kia Motors Slovakia in Žilina (since 2004).

Information and Communication Technology

Slovakia offers many business advantages, such as relatively low wage costs for talented, adaptable and educated work force, foreign languages spoken at rather high level (English and German in particular), business friendly environment, rising labour productivity and educational institutions of high quality in the field of ICT.

For all these reasons, information and communication technology sector has a solid position in the Slovak economy that can be demonstrated not only by the presence of foreign companies (Dell, IBM, HP) but also strong domestic IT companies (ESET, Sygic etc.).

Aerospace Industry

In the air and spacecraft machinery sector in Slovakia there are some good examples of design engineering and product development for global customers:
brightest LED lights in the aerospace industry at a fraction of industry prices

	development of the world’s first touch screen OLED complete avionics suite, the DigitalFlightDeck™
	development of biometric security access and control of aircraft
	development of the world’s first SmartPlane the AveoPhantom™
	development of the world’s first flying car Aeromobil 3.0

Wood Processing Industry

The top Slovak players Decodom and Ekoltech are preparing new investments; German Himolla will build second factory in Slovakia and also Swedish Swedwood, production daughter of Ikea is growing stronger.

Slovak producers did focus mainly on export; till now it covered 3/4 of sales, although current trend is to cover domestic market.

Wine in Slovakia

Wine production in Slovakia rose slightly in 2009 reaching 433.000hl. This nevertheless fails to meet consumer demands. Wine consumption in Slovakia is about 600.000-650.000hl per year. Domestic production is composed of 85% quality wines and about 15% table wines, but in consumption table wine has more than a 50% share on the market. Consequently table wine is mainly imported. The Slovak consumer prefers white wine, the consumption of which accounts for 70%. Slovak winemakers are not able to cover even the half of domestic consumption and thus part of the wine produced in Slovakia is exported.

Shipping Industry

Shipbuilding in Komárno has had a long tradition since 1898. “SAM - Shipbuilding and Machinery a.s.”, operation Komárno (formerly known as “Slovak Shipyard Komárno”) started with the manufacture of river vessels. Today it also manufactures smaller seagoing vessels and is a subcontractor of automobile manufacturing companies such as Volkswagen. In the past, the Komárno shipyard also used to work with Dutch manufacturers of boats and the Russian shipyard Krasnye Barrikady Shipyard, one of the biggest Russian shipping companies. The strategic location of its plant in the heart of Europe provides access to both the Black Sea and North Sea ports. Vessels built in Komárno have been sailing not only on the Danube, but also the rivers of China and Russia, as well as waters in South Africa, while seagoing vessels mainly sail on the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The shipyard has had several owners since its establishment. Nevertheless, production has been continuous for more than a century. “Slovak Shipyard Komárno” was acquired by “SAM - Shipbuilding and Machinery a.s.” in 2012. Its aim is to continue developing shipbuilding and to expand its production line. Besides building ships, SAM manufactures equipment for the chemical, oil and energy industry. It produces welded and steel components for construction and road machines.

For more information, click here.

Other shipping companies in Slovakia:

Slovenská plavba a prístavy a.s., MANDL Living on Water, Navicom a.s. (Research Institute for Shipbuilding in Komárno), Shiptech s.r.o.,