Business Sweden's Export Managers' Index (EMI), which monitors views and reflects sentiment among Swedish exporters of goods and services, bounced back in the first quarter of this year, rising by 1.1 points to 49.9.
The fact that EMI is more or less on the 50-mark indicates that export companies have a neutral view of the export market – but the survey also reflects a bleak outlook when they assess future prospects.
The uptick in EMI was driven by strengthened views of current export performance with a subindex that rose by 5.3 points to 52.3 in the first quarter. At the same time, the subindex for the forward-looking issues, EMI forecast, fell by 3.0 points to 47.6. The index for expected export sales plummeted by 12.1 points.
The most surprising result of the survey was the sharp increase in the indices for expected export demand from Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, which rose by 8.1 and 13.0 points, respectively.
Overall, the mixed results reflect the prevailing sentiment of uncertainty in the global export market. Download the analysis to get the full overview.
The next Export Managers’ Index will be published on 8 May 2025.
Export manager's index:
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ABOUT THE ANALYSIS
Business Sweden’s Export Managers’ Index is a quarterly index showing the current mood of Swedish exporting companies as well as their near-future outlook for exports to the regions of the world.
The index is a measure of companies’ perceived export demand in the market, where a level above 50 indicates market expansion and a level below 50 indicates market contraction. The index can be split into subindices for current and forecast export demand, and contains information on export sales, expected regional demand and perceived order stock.
The survey is conducted by Statistics Sweden (SCB). Business Sweden’s Export Managers’ Index is a leading indicator of the development of Sweden’s economy.
Publishing dates 2025
Below are the Swedish publishing dates for the EMI report. The English version is available on the website a few days later.
6 February: EMI Q1
8 May: EMI Q2
28 August: EMI Q3
6 November: EMI Q4
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