Sweden’s share of the global market for export goods has remained stable at 1.1 per cent since 2015, the year when the downward trend that began in the early 2000s was broken. This was partly due to the fact that exports from rapidly developing markets such as India and China are no longer growing at the same rapid pace.
Another contributing factor to Sweden’s strengthened position in recent years is the increased rate of investments in Europe – where around three-quarters of Sweden’s exports are destined. During the pandemic year 2020, Sweden’s share rose to 1.2 per cent following skyrocketing demand for typical “pandemic goods” such as pharmaceuticals, electronics and wood products.
Updated statistics from UN Comtrade now show that the upswing was temporary. Sweden’s share of the global export market fell back to 1.1 per cent in 2021. Although Sweden lost ground, Swedish exports developed in line with export growth in Europe and North America.
In all, Sweden’s exports grew (in current prices) by 23 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020. Exports of wood products and electrical equipment gained considerable momentum. The global growth of exports was primarily driven by strong export development in South America and the Middle East while Asia and Oceania performed more moderately.
About THE Analysis
Business Sweden publishes the report Global Export once a year. The United Nations’ database UN Comtrade is used to produce export statistics for Sweden’s 33 most important export markets for the period 2000–2020.
UN Comtrade contains most countries’ foreign trade broken down into commodity groups according to the so-called SITC nomenclature. All figures are in current prices expressed in USD. The goods exports have been divided into 13 commodity groups that cover approximately 85 per cent of Swedish goods exports.
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