Significant pressures also received the country’s external trade balance in April 2025 due to their vertical fall export fuel, which was imprinted on both the image of total exports and the special balance fuel.
Although exports of goods without fuel have been almost steady, all exports of goods decreased by 14.1% at current prices compared to April 2024, causing tricks to the country’s commercial performance.
According to Bank of Greece figures, exports of goods without fuel reported a marginal reduction of 0.5% at current prices, while at constant prices increased by 2.6%. This shows that the demand for non -energy Greek products has been maintained at positive levels, both in terms of volume and to a large extent in value.
On the contrary, fuel was the main negative factor in the country’s export performance. The individual fuel balance was severely deteriorated, as the deficit increased from € 309.2 million in April 2024 to € 518.9 million in April 2025, enlargement by 68%. This deterioration of the deficit suggests that fuel exports have fallen significantly, as imports have also decreased (-11.5% at current prices), causing the fuel imports to be increased less likely.
It should be noted that Greece may not be a downtown country and depends on the imports of crude to produce refined products, but its fuel balance is not always deficient. As the country has a strong refinement activity and exports significant quantities of oil products, when oil prices are increasing internationally, the production of Greek refineries moves high, and external demand for petroleum (mainly to the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean) is strong, Fuel balance.
The range of total reduction in exports of goods (-14.1%) cannot be interpreted by the almost neutral performance of non-energy exports. Since they only decreased by 0.5% and usually make up about 70% of the export mixture, then the remaining 30% – that is, fuel – has declined much more intense. According to the weighted average, the decline in fuel exports is estimated to have exceeded 45%, which is also confirmed by the change in their net balance.
This shrinkage has possible explanations both internationally – such as the decline in international oil prices and refining products in the period under consideration – and in a possible decline in export volume due to limited production or reduced demand from traditional destinations of Greek fuel exports.
At the same time, the overall deficit of the balance of goods declined compared to the corresponding month of 2024, a development that emerged because imports declined more than exports to absolute terms. Imports declined by 11.5% and the parallel shrinkage of the trade deficit of goods of € 2.31 billion to EUR 2.88 billion, as stated in the BoG’s official data, shows that domestic demand weakening had a balancing effect, but without compensating for low fuel damage.
In conclusion, April 2025 confirmed the key and vulnerable role of fuel in the Greek export balance. Although the rest of the country’s exporting trunk is durable, energy exports act as a factor in strong fluctuation and vulnerability in external trade. This development necessitates the constant monitoring of international energy markets as well as the long -term strategy of differentiation of the country’s export base.