SEVE: Historically high exports at 40 billion euros in 2021

A new record of extroversion was completed in 2021, confirming the forecasts of previous months, proving not only the resilience of the industry, but also its huge prospects, as noted by the Exporters Association (SEVE).

As it notes, exports of goods approached € 40 billion for the first time in history, far exceeded the performance of both 2020 and 2019, and proved that the international business orientation will be the key to achieving high growth rates. Greek economy.

In fact, this year’s performance proves that the goal of extroversion set by SEVE, ie exports as a percentage of GDP to reach 25% by 2024, is entirely feasible, as if the European Commission’s forecast for growth of 7.1% is confirmed in 2021, the corresponding percentage for 2021 will amount to approximately 22.5% compared to 18.6% in 2020. However, the substitution of imported products with domestic ones and the provision of incentives to strengthen Greek production in order to reduce trade deficit, which increased significantly between 2020-2021.

According to the data of trade transactions announced yesterday 09.02.2022 by the Hellenic Statistical Authority and which were processed by the Institute of Export Research and Studies (IEES) of SEVE, the exports of goods in December 2021 amounted to € 3,560.7 million against € 3,032.3 million in the corresponding month of 2020 and € 2,908.3 million in 2019, with the increase being 17.4% and 22.4% respectively. Imports also recorded a strong increase in the last month of the year and amounted to € 6,246.3 million in 2021 compared to € 4,533.0 million in December 2020, with an increase of 37.8%. As a result, the trade deficit increased significantly by € 1,184.9 million to € 2,685.6 million.

Excluding petroleum products, exports were also particularly high in December 2021 compared to the corresponding months of 2020 and 2019, namely by 25.1% (ie € 869.0 million) and 28.6% (ie € 964). , 1 million), resulting in € 4,336.9 million. Imports amounted to € 2,582.7 million and the trade deficit to € 1,754.2 million, recording an increase of 14.0% and 45.8%. respectively.

In terms of the whole year, exports approached € 40 billion and amounted to € 39,894.6 million, with their increase compared to 2020 amounting to € 9,094.4 million, ie 29 , 5% and compared to 2019 amounts to € 6,023.5 million, ie 17.8%. Imports increased by € 15,236.4 million, ie 31.1% compared to 2020 and amounted to € 64,190.2 million, while the trade balance showed a deficit of € 24,295.6 million, which was widened by € 6,142.0 million, ie 33.8% compared to 2020 and € 2,431.4 million, ie 11.1% compared to 2019.

Exports, excluding petroleum products, recorded a significant increase, as from € 23,312.9 million in 2019 and € 24,126.1 million in 2020, they amounted to 28,869.1 million in 2021, recording an increase of 23.8% and 19, respectively. 7% respectively. Similarly, in the period 2020-2021, imports increased by € 7,974.2 million, ie 20.1% and amounted to € 47,596.4 million and the trade deficit increased by € 3,231.2 million, ie 20.9% and amounted to € 18,727.3 million.

At sectoral level, there was a significant increase in exports in all product categories compared to the previous two years as presented in Table 5. In detail, an upward trend compared to 2020 was recorded in exports of industrial products (€ 1,348.1 million, ie 27.7 %) (food (€ 590.8 million, ie 11.1%), chemicals (€ 609.9 million, ie 12.1%), machinery and vehicles (€ 605.2 million, ie 18.6 %), various industrial (€ 511.5 million, ie 21.0%), raw materials (€ 622.0 million, ie 49.3%), beverages and tobacco (€ 129.4 million, ie 16 , 3%), fats and oils (€ 159.8 million, ie 28.0%) and unclassified products (€ 74.5 million, ie 16.1%).

EU countries (27) absorbed most of Greek exports, namely 53.7% (ie € 21,427.6 million), while 46.3% (ie € 18,467.0 million) were shipped to Third Countries . The corresponding percentages for 2020 were 57.5% for the EU (27) and 42.5% for the Third Countries, while for 2019 they were 52.4% for the EU (27) and 47.6% for the Third Countries. Countries.