Only one in 40 local companies are exporters
Just 2.5 percent of Greek enterprises were involved in exporting activity in 2015, according to the initial findings of an ongoing Ernst & Young survey.
The provisional data, presented last week at the Thessaloniki Summit organized by the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece, showed that of a total 700,000 enterprises active in the country, only 17,730 made exports. Even in the domains of industry and manufacturing (with some 60,000 firms), the share of those that exported commodities stood at just 29 percent, which is far from satisfactory for the economy.
About 85 percent of exporters are small enterprises (employing up to 49 workers each), but they only account for 28 percent of exports. In contrast, 50 percent of exports are made by just 265 enterprises, or 1.5 percent of exporters. Five of them cover 25.9 percent of exports.
Almost one in every three companies sampled started exporting in recent years. However, less than 8 percent started over the last five years, as 72 percent started before the outbreak of the crisis and 20 percent began between 2009 and 2012.
Of annual exports totaling 25 billion euros, 50 percent come from enterprises based in Attica, 20 percent from companies in Macedonia and Thrace and 15 percent from the Peloponnese, with the rest coming from other parts of the country.
