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Trade with Greece
(49.4%) as a percentages of the total value of exports (22.45
billion euros). Excluding petroleum products, the share of
exports to the European Union stands at 65.4%, corroborating
the importance of our European trading partners for the coun-
try's foreign trade.
According to a statement by the president of the Panhellenic
Exporters Association, Ms. Christina Sakellaridi, “the increase
of exports to more than 10.3% of the country's GDP for the first
time since 2000 demonstrates the importance of extroversion
for the country's economic life and viability. Abolishing all
export disincentives, enhancing the liquidity of Greek exporters
–the healthiest and most dynamic cells of the Greek economy–
and extending an aggressive national extroversion strategy to
key target markets for Greek products, becomes more neces-
sary than ever before.” The year 2011 provides a benchmark
for the comprehensive transformation of the country's produc-
tive model, with the aim of fostering economic recovery and
establishing prospects for development, employment growth
and wealth generation in Greece. Last year, more companies
successfully tried to export Greek products, quality products
that comprise expertise and added value, which played a
major role in international markets, amidst rather unfavourable
conditions of uncertainty for the Greek economy. In 2011, it
was incontestably proved that extroversion is a pillar of growth
and a response to recession. Without the 22.4 billion euros
brought by exports, recession would be deeper by one per-
centage point in 2011. Without this 37% increase in exports,
thousands of jobs would have been lost.
More specifically, according to an analysis by the Panhellenic
Exporters Association, the absolute value of Greek exports hit
a record high in 2011, exceeding 22.4 billion euros. However,
the persistence of pressures on the value of exports (exclud-
ing petroleum products) during the last quarter, suppressed
the dynamism of Greece's external trade, and as a result total
export growth (excluding petroleum products) stood at 9.7%
year-on-year. This performance corroborates the initial esti-
mates for 8%-10% export growth made by the PSE in early
2011; however, this performance fell short of the revised mid-year export growth estimate (12%-14%),
owing to the persistence of pressures during the last quarter of the previous year. In particular, the total
value of exports-dispatches stood at 1,968.6 million euros in December 2011, compared to 1,849.8 mil-
lion euros in the same month of 2010, increased by 6.4%. The total value of exports-dispatches, exclud-
ing petroleum products, stood at 1,453.9 million euros in the same month of 2011, compared to 1,456.8
million euros in December 2010, reduced by 0.2%. On a twelve month basis (January 2011–December
2011) Greek exports –excluding petroleum products– increased by 9.7% year-on-year.
The following tables present the top-ten types of products exported to each EU country, along with vol-
umes and quantities, based on ELSTAT data.
Greek exports registered a new record in 2011, breaking
the 10 percent-of-GDP barrier for the first time since
2000. The value of exports reached 22.5 billion euros,
increased by 36.8%.