The stagnation in the Slovak food manufacturing sector continues. The best results are in edible oils and fats sector, an output of which was 74,100 tons last year, 34 percent above the "starting" level in 1989.
The production of sugar increased 20.6 percent to 226,300 tons. Pasta production has remained at the same level as in 1989, and beer production saw just a slight decline in relation to 1989. The rest of the food processing sector currently produces far below its production capacities.
Last year, 106,500 tons of meat products were produced, which is just 38.1 percent of the 1989 output. Butter production declined to 37.8 percent of 1989's level last year with 14,100 tons of butter. A similar development was seen in milk production Last year, 226.8 million tons of milk was processed, which is 46.5 percent of the volume processed in 1989. The foreign trade deficit in agricultural and foodstuff commodities reached 12.639 billion Sk ($421 million) last year.
