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Trade with Greece
T
he picture of exports to EU countries is exactly the
opposite. Including petroleum products exports
grew by 10.2%, whereas if petroleum products are
excluded exports to EU countries fell by 3.2%. Chemicals
and miscellaneous manufactured articles continued to per-
form excessively well (+8.7% and +10.2% respectively),
while substantial growth was also recorded in the exports
of confidential items (+73.1%), raw materials (+49.9%) and
alcoholic beverages & tobacco (+19.8). The growth of
exports in these sectors did offset to a certain extent the
pressures exerted on petroleum products (-2%), manufac-
tured goods (-6.1%), machinery (-15.8%) and olive oil (-
26.2%). It is also worth noting the marginal decrease in the
exports of the food sector (-0.6%), which seems to with-
stand to a certain extent the pressures that began last
August.
In the first eight-months of the year, analytical data on
which are presented below, exports show a marginal
improvement, as compared to initial estimates. More
specifically, according to data released by the Hellenic
Statistical Authority, exports fell by 5.5% last August, as
compared to an initial estimate for a 5.7% drop in the total
value of exports. Similarly, excluding petroleum products,
exports were reduced by 7.2% during the same period, as
compared to an estimated drop of 7.6%.
This correction is due to the slight improvement of Greek
exports to EU countries, which led to the exertion of less
pressure during these 8 months.
More specifically, in the period January-August 2013, the
total value of Greek exports stood at 18.28 billion euros,
increased by 5.4% year-on-year. However, excluding petro-
leum products, there is a drop of 2.6%; in other words
exports fell by 293.8 million euros.
According to the analysis by the Panhellenic Exporters
Association (PSE) and KEEM, the weight of the petroleum
product sector in the total value of exports is increasing as
compared to all other sectors. More specifically, in the first
8-months of 2013 petroleum products accounted for 40%
of total exports, as compared to 35% and 30% in the first 8-
months of 2012 and 2011 respectively.
This has also brought substantial changes to the export
map, since, as far as the total value of exports is con-
cerned, Third Countries account for 53.7%, while EU coun-
tries account for 46.3%. When petroleum products are
excluded, this ratio is fully reversed in favour of EU coun-
tries (64.5%, as compared to 35.5% for Third Countries).
According to the president of the Panhellenic Exporters
Association, Christina Sakellaridi, “The loss of almost 300
million euros that Greece's struggling economy has sus-
tained since last year, dampens our optimism about sus-
taining positive growth rates for the total of the country's
exports. If, indeed, the additional loss from the reduction of
imports by 1.6 billion euros is also factored in”, says Ms.
Sakellaridis, “you can understand the need for simultane-
ously reviving both domestic production and domestic con-
sumption, as prerequisites for growth.
“Given that the drop in imports now seems to level off,
reflecting the low levels of the past few years, we must cre-
ate an output and productivity surplus, in order to sustain
positive export growth rates, substitute domestic products
for imported ones, and create new jobs,” said the president
of the PSE, concluding that: “Sustaining export growth
requires not only wide cooperation across the entire spec-
trum of the supply chain, but also the support of the finan-
cial system. There is an urgent need to release the guar-
antees of the European Investment Bank, in order to pro-
vide the country's internationalized businesses with liquidi-
ty, in conjunction with initiatives across the entire extrover-
sion spectrum: transport, tourism, shipping, in accordance
with the strategy that is implemented by the Ministry of
Development & Competitiveness. Overall, though, the
forthcoming Greek presidency of the EU should promote
comprehensive solutions, aimed at enhancing production
and extroversion, especially in the countries of the
European South, as a counterweight to recession.”
The following tables present the top-ten categories of
exports to European Union countries for the first eight-
months of 2013, along with the exports for the same period
of the previous year, provided that the ELSTAT has made
available the relevant analytical information.
