Sweden’s share of the global export market, based on an analysis of the 14 largest commodity groups for exports, remained relatively stable between 2015 and 2020 at approximately 1.05 per cent. But after 2020, Swedish exports of goods lost market share, albeit marginally, and fell to just below 1.0 per cent in 2022.
Sweden’s shares fell in virtually all commodity groups except chemicals, pharmaceuticals and steel, where they increased. Swedish exports of electrical equipment developed in line with the global trend and so Sweden maintained its position in this commodity group.
Sweden’s falling share of the global export market is partly explained by strong export growth in North America, South America and the Middle East, while also Europe – Sweden's most important market – lost shares.
A notable difference, however, in 2022 was the impact of considerable movements in the currency market. The Swedish krona's 15 per cent loss in value against the US dollar represents a major disadvantage for Sweden as the total export value of the world's countries is converted from local currencies to one and the same currency.
Explore the full analysis in this year's edition of the report Global Export which is based on updated statistics from the United Nations (UN Comtrade).
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 most important export markets for the period 2012–2022.
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 14 commodity groups that cover approximately 85 per cent of Swedish goods exports.
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