Trade with Greece
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basic industry, as well as Greek manufacturing
enterprises, is internationalization. It suffices to
say that the new orders index in industry for the
domestic market fell by 6.7%, at the same time as
new orders in the non-domestic market provide
new momentum to extrovert industries, having
gained 26.6% year-on-year.
The main recovery drivers are Basic Metals, with
a 44.1% increase in new orders, followed by elec-
trical equipment (33.7%) and chemicals (28.2%).
If, however, domestic orders are examined sepa-
rately from non-domestic ones, it is evident that
all sectors, except electrical equipment, have
seen their orders decrease in Greece. In contrast,
non-domestic orders have increased in sectors
such as textiles (13.5%), paper and paper prod-
ucts (14.9%) and computers (9.7%).
Competitive industry
Whereas European countries support their indus-
try mainly in regard to energy costs, Greek indus-
try has to face successive electricity cost increas-
es. A typical example of state support to the local
industry is France, which has enacted the NOME
law to provide its industry with historically low-
cost power from EDF’s nuclear stations.
Recently, though, there has been a shift towards
the opposite direction. Since July, the Union of
Industrial Energy Consumers, which represents
50% of high-voltage customers and 6% of total
electricity consumption, has recorded industrial
power price increases of up to 15% due to the
passing-on of charges to the final consumer.
Medium voltage industrial customers have also
seen increases of up to 20%, as a result of
changes in price schedules.
Actually, as pointed out by industry sources, the
energy prices currently prevailing in Greece are
much higher than those paid by similar compa-
nies located in Greece’s northern neighbours.
This is a decisive blow for the heavy industry’ s
competitiveness, as energy costs account for 20-
30% of processing costs, i.e. are far more impor-
tant even than labour costs.
However, large Greek industries with thousands
of employees, strong export orientation, and
products that are daily facing global competition
in Greece and abroad, point out that energy cost
is a crucial part of their operating costs, and has
risen in importance as compared to labour cost.
And the question is whether there will be a com-
prehensive policy for supporting Industry, not
through subsidies, but through the creation of an
appropriate environment that will enable Greek
industrial exports to become more competitive,
also turning industrial extroversion into a means
for exiting the crisis.
The energy prices cur-
rently prevailing in
Greece are much higher
than those paid by simi-
lar companies located in
Greece’s northern
neighbours.
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