Sweden’s trade surplus shrinks sizably in March

Sweden has reported a 54.7% drop in its trade balance surplus in March from a year earlier.

The country’s trade surplus shrank to SEK 4.8 billion in March from SEK 10.6 billion in the same month of 2023, the latest data by Statistics Sweden showed.

Total exports plunged 10.7% year-on-year to SEK 176.2 billion in March, which reflected a sizable drop in shipments to both EU nations (-10.3% YoY to SEK 97.8 billion) and non-EU countries (-11.3% YoY to SEK 78.4 billion).

Meanwhile, total imports went down 8.2% year-on-year to SEK 171.4 billion in March, dragged down by lower purchases from EU nations (-7.9% YoY to SEK 116.0 billion) and non-EU countries (-9% YoY to SEK 55.4 billion).

Taking into account the first quarter of 2024, Sweden’s trade surplus increased to SEK 28.7 billion from SEK 27.6 billion a year ago.

The USD/SEK currency pair settled 0.52% higher at 10.9252 on Friday. For the week, the exotic currency pair edged up 0.20%, while extending the gains from the previous two weeks.