123
Trade with Greece
As far as individual countries are concerned, Turkey (which imports
a large share of Greek petroleum products) fell from the first place
among Greek export destinations to the third place in 2015. The first
place is now occupied by Italy (thanks to the surge of olive oil
exports), while Germany is ranked second and the top-five is com-
pleted by Cyprus and Bulgaria. The US is now in the 6th place (from
the 8th), while the United Kingdom fell to the 7th place (from 6th
place in 2014). Egypt rose in the rankings (to the 8th from the 10th
place in 2014), while Lebanon made the top-ten (rising to the 9th
place, from 16th in 2014). The top-ten is completed by Saudi Arabia
(which fell one place, from 9th in 2014).
As far as the composition of exports by major product categories is
concerned, the overall contraction is due to a major drop in fuel
exports (by -26.4%). In contrast, agricultural product exports rose by
a spectacular 12.4%, while there was also an increase in the exports
of industrial products (+6.8%). In contrast, there was a marginal drop
in the exports of raw materials, while the overall annual result was
also negative for the —low-value— exports of “Commodities and
transactions not classified by category” (-5.3%).
In terms of individual products, there were no discernible changes in
the top-20, with olive oil being the incontestable star for 2015.
New entries in the list of Greece’s top-100 export products include:
Line pipes of a kind used for oil or gas pipelines (24th), olive oil - non
virgin (43rd), aeroplanes (58th), yachts and other vessels for pleas-
ure (67th), mink (73rd), rheostats (76th), electricity meters (82nd),
tangerines (92nd), petroleum coke (94th), mixtures of olive oil (95th),
and apples (99th).
Negative import growth
The growth of imports in 2014 proved to be short-lived, as the drop
in fuel prices, the imposition of capital controls and the uncertainty
surrounding primary production, manufacturing, and commerce,
caused imports to fall again. More specifically, exports were reduced
by 9.8% in 2015 to 42.5 billion euros (from 47.2 billion euros in
2014). However, the largest part of the drop is accounted for by the
petroleum products sector (-26.4%); excluding petroleum products,
the drop in imports is marginal (-0.2%, or a mere 75.5 million euros).
More specifically, imports from the European Union were reduced by
1.7%, because of the drop in imports from euro zone countries (-3.6%),
whereas imports from other EU members that are not euro zone coun-
tries rose by 5%. Imports from other (non-EU) European countries fell
by a steep -17.8%.
There was also a reduction in imports from North America (-10.1%),
Other Countries of the Americas (-14%), Middle East and North Africa
(-23.6%), other (excluding Middle Eastern) Asian countries (-13.6%),
and Oceania (-7.3%). In contrast, there was 10.2% increase in imports
from other African countries (excluding North Africa).
In terms of main product categories, apart from petroleum product
imports that fell by -26.4%, there was also a decrease in the imports
of agricultural products (-0.8%), raw materials (-8.1%) and confiden-
tial items (-30.6%).
Conversely, industrial product imports, which account for 57% of
total Greek imports and remain the most important category, were
marginally up by 1.1% (to 24,252.4 million euros from 23,994.3 mil-
lion euros).
As a result of all the above changes in Greece’s foreign trade pat-
terns, the trade deficit once again improved by 15.8% to -17.12 bil-
lion euros (from -20.34 billion euros in 2014).
The tables present Greece’s top-ten exports to the EU-27 (in terms
of value), on the basis of provisional ELSTAT data. Moreover, the
table compares these figures to the corresponding ones for the year
2014, based on data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
JANUARY-DECEMBER
2015
VALUE
(Euros)
VOLUME/
KGR
SWEDEN
176,058,023
256,367,189
DAIRY PRODUCE. BIRDS’ EGGS. NAT-
URAL HONEY. EDIBLE PRODUCTS OF
ANIMAL ORIGIN
28,045,010
5,114,965
PREPARATIONS OF VEGETABLES, FRUIT,
NUTS OR OTHER PARTS OF PLANTS
16,459,944
9,924,384
MINERAL FUELS, MINERALOILS & PROD-
UCTS OF THEIR DISTILLATION. BITUMI-
NOUS SUBSTANCES. MINERAL WAXES
14,374,513
23,045,542
PLASTICS AND ARTICLES THEREOF
12,418,544
5,801,648
EDIBLE FRUIT AND NUTS; PEEL OF
CITRUS FRUIT OR MELONS
10,842,042
10,312,063
ELECTRICALMACHINERY & EQUIPMENT
& PARTS THEREOF SOUND
RECORDERS & REPRODUCERS, TELEVI-
SION IMAGE & SOUND RECORDERS &
REPRODUCERS, & PARTS & ACCES-
SORIES OF SUCH ARTICLES
10,780,059
1,706,501
MISCELLANEOUSEDIBLEPREPARATIONS
10,579,996
849,614
MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
10,368,123
175,386,655
OPTICAL, PHOTOGRAPHIC, CINEMATO-
GRAPHIC, MEASURING, CHECKING, PRE-
CISION MEDICALOR SURGICAL INSTRU-
MENTSANDAPPARATUS PARTS AND
ACCESSORIES THEREOF
7,878,878
28,925
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS
5,717,172
115,061
JANUARY-DECEMBER
2014
VALUE
(Euros)
VOLUME/
KGR
SWEDEN
160,350,770 232,624,042
DAIRY PRODUCE. BIRDS’ EGGS. NATU-
RALHONEY. EDIBLE PRODUCTS OF
ANIMAL ORIGIN
25,939,947 4,715,461
PREPARATIONS OF VEGETABLES, FRUIT,
NUTS OR OTHER PARTS OF PLANTS
16,010,167 9,483,162
PLASTICS AND ARTICLES THEREOF
12,909,216 6,094,124
EDIBLE FRUIT AND NUTS; PEEL OF
CITRUS FRUIT OR MELONS
11,972,743 12,837,462
OPTICAL, PHOTOGRAPHIC, CINEMATO-
GRAPHIC, MEASURING, CHECKING, PRE-
CISION MEDICALOR SURGICAL INSTRU-
MENTSANDAPPARATUS PARTSAND
ACCESSORIES THEREOF
11,150,971 20,417
MISCELLANEOUSEDIBLEPREPARATIONS
10,807,847 855,418
MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
10,701,974 173,114,467
ELECTRICALMACHINERY & EQUIPMENT
& PARTS THEREOF SOUND
RECORDERS & REPRODUCERS, TELEVI-
SION IMAGE & SOUND RECORDERS &
REPRODUCERS, & PARTS &ACCES-
SORIES OF SUCH ARTICLES
9,438,897 1,340,455
ARTICLES OF APPAREL AND CLOTH-
ING ACCESSORIES, KNITTED OR
CROCHETED
7,103,160 310,253
CONFIDENTIAL ITEMS, STORES
5,728,982 2,332,794
