The strategy of specialised products and the limited size of the domestic market are the reason for the heavy dependency on foreign trade. Only approximately 5 % of the sales are in the home market; 95 % of the industry's production are exported.

The highest portion of exports, over 55 %, goes to the EU countries. Together with exports to the other European countries, nearly two thirds of exports go to Europe.

All raw materials for the chemical and pharmaceutical production have to be imported. More than 80 % of the industry's demand are imported from EU countries.