Engineering products also dominate Sweden’s imports – nearly 49 percent of total. The second largest category of imports is chemical products followed by foodstuffs, textiles/clothing, minerals, oil and petroleum products.
Sweden trades primarily with other industrialized countries. In 1997, almost 75 percent of exports were destined for other European nations. Almost 90 percent of trade were with members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which supplied the same proportion of imports. Developing countries accounted for less than one tenth of Swedish trade.
EU countries account for almost 60 percent of Sweden’s exports, while 70 percent of Sweden’s imports come from or via the EU. These shares have increased since Sweden, Austria and Finland became members of the EU on January 1, 1995. All three countries formerly belonged to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), to which Sweden had previously sold about a fifth of its export. Another EFTA member, Norway, decided not to join the EU but remains an important trading partner. Norway is Sweden’s third largest export market after Germany and Great Britain. The United States come fourth.
Fast-growing markets for Swedish exports are found in Asia, especially Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Asia now accounts for 13 percent of Swedish exports, making it the most important single region outside Europe.
There is also growing trade with the former state-trading countries of Eastern and Central Europe, including the Baltic states. These countries still account for only about 5 percent of Swedish exports and imports, however.