Swedish food trade gap widens after eight months

Eurofood, Dec 3, 1998

Growth in Swedish food exports is in rapid decline this year and overseas sales are likely to fall far short of the 24% increase to SKr18bn (ECU1.9bn) seen in 1997. In the first eight months of the year, export sales grew by just 3% to SKr12.2bn compared with SKr11.9bn a year ago, according to figures from the National Board of Agriculture. Meanwhile, imports for the same period rose by a steady 7% to SKr25.4bn.

The Board already issued a warning in May of this year about the poor state of Swedish food exports, but since then the situation has gone from bad to worse, largely because of the havoc in the European pigmeat market. With these demanding market conditions prevailing, in all likelihood Swedish food exports will show no upward movement at all in 1998 for the first time in a number of years, industry analysts are predicting.

Meat worst hit

The European pigmeat crisis meant that the meat sector accounted for the sharpest fall in exports during the eight month period. Overseas sales of Swedish meat dropped by 24% to SKr782m from SKr1.04bn the year before, with pigmeat exports alone falling 34% to SKr365m.

The greatest increase in export sales came from fish and shellfish, reflecting the growing importance of Sweden as a transit route for the rest of the EU of Norwegian salmon. These exports rose by 25% to SKr1.96bn in the year to August. However, Sweden's largest food export category - grains and cereals - saw a 3% decline in the first eight months to SKr2.22bn.

Imports seen up

On the import side, a number of significant increases were seen in the first eight months. Imports of dairy products were up 26% at SKr1.10bn, while imports of grain and cereals rose 16% to SKr1.63bn. In the volatile and turbulent meat sector, imports rose 9% to SKr1.88bn, widening the Swedish trade gap to SKr1.1bn from SKr689m last year.