Business Sweden's Export Managers' Index (EMI) continued to rise in the first quarter of this year and touches the highest mark. EMI rose by 3.3 units from 67.6 and thus reached the record level of 70.9 in the second quarter of last year. It is primarily now that the optimism among Swedish export companies is unusually strong.
- The pandemic is coming to an end and demand from the outside world is strong. This benefits Swedish export companies at the forefront of sustainable solutions that can contribute to both digitisation and to the green transition, says Lena Sellgren, Chief Economist, Business Sweden.
The EMI current position increased by 6.6 points to a record level of 77.9 in the first quarter and the index of the outlook for exports increased by 5.9 points to 79.1. The index for the profitability of export sales also increased significantly by 5 units to a record high of 80.5 in the first quarter. The EMI forecast, which is the sub-index for the forward-looking questions, was on the other hand almost unchanged with a marginal increase of 0.1 units. At the same time, the result of 63.9 is well above 50, which is the dividing line between optimism and pessimism.
- The fact that both the view and the forecast are at historically high levels indicate that export managers are more optimistic than normal and that we have another strong export year ahead of us, concludes Lena Sellgren.
Read the Export Managers’ Index for the first quarter here.
The next Export Managers’ Index will be published on 12 May 2022.