The Greek economy is coming out of a ten year crisis that has lead disposable income to the lowest level ever. The only booming industry at the moment is tourism. Food and drinks industry and exports are also continually developing. Recycling technologies and products are in growing demand. Consumer products are growing towards the low end of the market due to money shortage. The construction industry is idle for many years.
A developed country with a large merchant fleet
Greece is a developed country with an economy based on the service (68.07%) and industrial sectors (15.28%). The agricultural sector contributed 3.65% of national economic output in 2019. Important Greek industries include tourism and shipping. With 30 million international tourists in 2019, Greece was the 8th most visited country in the European Union and 13th in the world.
The Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 20% of global deadweight tonnage as of 2019. The increased demand for international maritime transportation between Greece and Asia has resulted in unprecedented investment in the shipping industry.
Great demand for many products and materials
The Greek economy is not production based, it’s highly reliant on imports of goods and raw materials
If you ask Greeks on the street whether they prefer local tomatoes to imports, it is almost certain that 90 percent would opt for homegrown varieties, while some 50 percent have told polls that they generally consider Greek products superior to imports, especially in terms of quality.
However, this country imports hundreds of tons of fresh goods every year, including fruit and vegetables that are easy to grow here such as oranges, lemons, apples and potatoes, as well as basic meats and tons of fish from all corners of the world. Last year, we even had imports of olive oil from Germany.
Supply needed the whole year round
The main reason behind the high import bill is consumer behavior: We want to have all products all year round, irrespective of whether they’re in season or not. For example, as the season for Greek apples starts to come to an end now, sellers will begin importing to sustain demand, while when oranges are short in the summer, we still expect a glass of freshly squeezed every morning and need to supply tourists with oranges from Argentina.
Import numbers and statistics
Imports to Greece advanced 27.1 percent year-on-year to EUR 4.98 billion in June 2019, as purchases to the countries outside the EU soared 43.1 percent and those to the EU went up 15.5 percent. Considering the January to June period of 2019, imports advanced 4.5 percent to EUR 26.96 billion. Imports in Greece averaged 4038.95 EUR Million from 2001 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 6219.50 EUR Million in June of 2008 and a record low of 1919 EUR Million in August of 2001.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$16.7 billion (26.9% of total imports)
- Machinery including computers: $7.8 billion (12.6%)
- Ships, boats: $5.1 billion (8%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $3.0 billion (4.9%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $3.4 billion (5.6%)
- Vehicles: $2.7 billion (4.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2.0 billion (3.3%)
- Meat: $1.3 billion (2.1%)
- Iron, steel: $1.2 billion (2.1%)
- Aluminum: $1.0 billion (1.6%)
The top import origins for Greece are Germany ($6,59 Billions), Italy ($5,21 Billions), China ($5,5 Billions), Russia ($4,05 Billions) and the Netherlands ($4,65 Billions).
Greece’s top 10 imports
Greece’s top 10 imports accounted for 62.5% of the overall value of its product purchases from other countries.
All 10 categories increased in value year over year, led by ships and boats via a 57.8% gain. In second place was imported aluminum (up 29.7%) closely followed by iron and steel (up 28.5%) and mineral fuels including oil (up 28.2%).
Greece’s top 10 imports accounted for 61.9% of the overall value of its product purchases from other countries.
All 10 categories increased in value year over year, led by ships and boats via a 57.8% gain. In second place was imported aluminum (up 29.7%) closely followed by iron and steel (up 28.5%) and mineral fuels including oil (up 28.2%).Greece’s top 10 imports accounted for 61.9% of the overall value of its product purchases from other countries.
All 10 categories increased in value year over year, led by ships and boats via a 57.8% gain. In second place was imported aluminum (up 29.7%) closely followed by iron and steel (up 28.5%) and mineral fuels including oil (up 28.2%).
Greek Imports / Sector (in million Euro)
| 2018 | 2017 | |
| Food-Animals | 7,027 | 6,413 |
| Beverages-Tobacco | 610 | 562 |
| Raw materials apart from fuels | 4,005 | 3,715 |
| Mining – Fuels – Lubricants | 8,638 | 6,660 |
| Oils & grease of animal or plant origin | 244 | 276 |
| Chemicals | 3,524 | 2,816 |
| Industrial products | 1,446 | 1,313 |
| Machine & Transport Equipment | 2,676 | 2,517 |
| Others | 5,239 | 4,801 |
| TOTAL | 33,409 | 29,073 |
