World export of goods rose by 2 per cent in current prices during 2024, but this growth conceals considerable regional differences. European exports lost momentum and, as such, our continent relinquished its newly won position as the world’s largest export region – a top spot that reverted to Asia.
This is revealed in Business Sweden’s report Global headwinds slow Swedish export of goods. The report assesses that Sweden’s share of the global export market amounted to somewhat less than 0.9 per cent in 2024, showing declines in several of Sweden’s most important product groups.
Automotive exports fell back against the backdrop of a global downturn for the entire industry. The largest setbacks, however, were seen in Sweden’s basic industries including wood products, petroleum products and pulp and paper, while the machinery industry went against the tide and showed a significant uptick.
China and the rest of Asia strengthened their positions in the global export market, while North America held its ground. For the smaller export regions – the Middle East, South America and Africa – shares of world exports remained unchanged.
The report provides an overview of how Sweden’s export industry performed compared with other countries and regions in 2024, before the US adopted a new trade policy and moved towards arbitrary tariffs and other trade barriers. Get the full overview in this year’s report Global export of goods.
About THE Analysis
Business Sweden publishes the report Global export of goods once a year. The analysis is based on statistics from UN Comtrade which contains most countries’ foreign trade broken down into product groups.
All figures are in current prices expressed in US dollars. The goods exports have been divided into 13 product groups that cover 84 per cent of Swedish export of goods.
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