Greek exports closed 2023 at €50.9 billion, marking the second best performance after that of 2022 in their history. A 20% reduced trade deficit and improvement in export performance in traditionally strong sectors was recorded.

“2023 was a difficult year for extroverted entrepreneurship as important events hampered the course of exports, such as the war in Gaza and the conflicts in the Red Sea, creating major problems in transport chains and a general spirit of uncertainty in the European as well as in the world market. Product exports for 2023 amounted to €50,920.0 million, which over time constitute the second best performance in history. Greek exporters proved once again that, despite inflationary pressures and instability in international markets, they managed to reduce the trade deficit by €7,744.9 million»,

The success of our country’s exports directly depends on the ability of Greek businesses to adapt to international economic conditions and take advantage of the available opportunities, especially in the field of technology and innovation, for the further development of their export base,” said the president of SEVE, Simeon Diamantidis

According to the commodity transactions bulletin announced today by the Hellenic Statistical Authority and processed by the Export Research and Studies Institute (IEES) of SEBE, exports fell to €50.9 billion, down 8.7% compared to the top performance of 2022 where they reached €54.7 billion. However, there was a significant improvement in the trade deficit which decreased to €31 billion compared to €38.8 billion in 2022.

Specifically for the month of December 2023, the total value of Greek exports amounted to €3,702.4 million, reduced by €1,023.6 million, i.e. 21.7%, compared to 2022. The trend of imports was similar which decreased by 17.7% from €7,662.7 million in 2022 to €6,307.4 million in 2023. The trade deficit for the month improved by €331.7 million, i.e. 11.3% and amounted to € 2,605 million compared to €2,936.7 million in 2022.

The same trend prevails even when we do not take into account petroleum products.

The amount of exports for December 2023 is equal to €2,553.2 million and shows a decrease of 20.9%, i.e. €673.1 million compared to the corresponding period last year. The amount of imports amounted to €4,611.4 million, reduced by 13.7%, i.e. €734.3 million compared to December 2022. The improvement of the trade deficit is 2.9%, i.e. €2,058 .2 million from €2,119.4 million in December 2022.

Examining the merchandise transactions of Greece, as a whole in 2023, there is a decrease in the value of both exports, by 8.7%, i.e. €4,848.2 million compared to the previous year, and imports, by 13.3% i.e. €12,587.1 million. The sharper decrease in imports compared to that of exports led to a decrease in the trade balance by 20%, i.e. €7,744.9 million.

Less pronounced is the decline in commodity transactions, when we exclude petroleum products as exports decrease by 3% from €35,174.2 million in 2023 to €36,245.5 million in 2022.

Accordingly, imports decrease by 4.1% from €60,496.6 million in 2023 to €63,054.7 million in 2022. The improvement observed in the trade deficit amounts to 5.5%, i.e. to €25,322.4 million in 2023 from €26,809.2 million in 2022.

Despite the general decrease in our export performance by 7.1%, compared to the year 2022, there was for 2023 an improvement in export performance in the traditionally strong sectors of our country, such as food and machinery and vehicles, as well as increase in the sectors of fats – oils and beverages – tobacco compared to the corresponding overall performance of the above sectors in the year 2022.

In detail, exports increased by €623.5 million (9.0%), machinery and vehicles by €64.7 million (1.3%), beverages and tobacco by € 127.8 million (11.1%), fats and oils by €388.3 million (37.1%) and unclassified products by €452.5 million (293.8%).