In the preparation of the study entitled “Mapping the export activity of Greece by region” for the period 2017-2021, the IEES of SEBE continued for another year. The study drew interesting conclusions regarding the level of extroversion of each region separately following the decline that occurred in 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once once more the problem of regional disparities was demonstrated as only the regions of Attica, Central Macedonia and Peloponnese account for 82% of the total. SEVE is the only body that processes and analyzes the data of the merchandise transactions carried out by the 13 regions of the country. The aim of the study is to highlight the comparative advantages of each region at the sectoral level, to analyze the countries with which it trades and to identify the weak points that need improvement. This is an ad hoc study on the level of extroversion of all Greek regions individually, and a necessary tool for outlining and improving the export performance of Greek regions.
Before the record performance of €55 billion in 2022 (source: ELSTAT provisional data, 07/02/2023), exports had recorded another record in 2021, reaching €39.4 billion from €30.4 billion. in 2020, with the increase amounting to 29.5%, i.e. €9.0 billion (source: IEES-SEVE study data). This significant improvement resulted in an improvement in export performance (exports of goods as % of GDP), which went from 18.4% in 2020 to 21.7% in 2021. Of all the Greek regions, only the North Aegean recorded decrease in its export performance (€40.5 million | 26.2%), while on the contrary all the other regions increased their exports with Attica (increase of €3.9 billion), Peloponnese (increase of €2.4 billion) and Central Macedonia (increase of €924.3 million) to record the largest increase in absolute value. Accordingly, total imports amounted to €63.7 billion in 2021, marking an increase of 34.1%, i.e. €16.2 billion compared to 2020, while the trade deficit amounted to €24.3 billion.
At the sectoral level, petroleum products with exports of €11.3 billion and a share of 28.6% are the most important sector with 49% coming from Attica and 40% from the Peloponnese. Food is the second most important sector with a share of 16.7% of the total and the Regions of Central Macedonia (30%) and Attica (21%) have the most important shares, while 75% of chemicals and plastics which is the 3rd most important sector, comes from Attica. Regarding export destinations, Italy, Germany and Cyprus took the top three positions with a share of 10.0%, 7.3% and 6.0% respectively, being in the top 10 of the Region of Attica, the Region of Central Macedonia and the Region of Thessaly .
In the Region of Central Macedonia, its exports in the period 2020-2021 recorded an increase of 17.7%, reaching 6.2 billion euros, which is also its best performance. The share of the region amounts to 15.6% with petroleum products, and to 19.0% without them.
