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 Despite a lengthy and cold spring this year, Sweden’s leisure marine industry shows no sign of slowing its decade-long upward trend. The days when it could justifiably be labelled as a small boating country in the north of Europe with a relatively isolated domestic boating market now truly belong in the past. With a sizeable proportion of its boats manufactured outside Sweden, and much of its own production exported, the country boasts a healthy trade balance.
This was highly visible at the 71st Stockholm International Boat Show, held from March 4-12 this year. Many of the boats on display came from Finland, Norway and other European countries, but there was an increasing number of representatives from further afield, notably South Africa, Brazil and China. With its 550 exhibitors, and more than 1,000 boats on display over approximately 32,000m2 (344,400ft2) it was the largest show since 1990. Notwithstanding a snowstorm on the opening day, visitor numbers too, were up on 2005. Even the uninspiring start to the boating season has done little to dampen the Swedish consumer spirit, according to Sweboat’s managing director Björn Lagerkvist.
“The long cold spring hasn’t affected the boating industry too much. We were afraid that boating enthusiasm would cool off as a result but this doesn’t seem to have happened. We’re expecting around a 20 per cent increase in sales this first quarter, much in line with the average increase in value we’ve seen over the past 10 years.”
According to Swedish Marine Industries Federation (Sweboat) figures, the total estimated value of the Swedish market has increased from SKr1.47 billion (E159 million) in 2000 to SKr2.13 billion (E230 million) in 2004 alone. With this in mind, a dip in export figures in the first three months of 2006 from SKr324 million (E35 million) to SKr301 million (E33 million) should not give any cause for concern, says Lagerkvist.
“A decrease of seven per cent during the first quarter doesn’t mean that much. It could simply mean that more has been sold in Sweden. The only quick indicator we have when assessing the domestic market is import figures, so it’s through a combination of these and regular contact with our member companies that we’re confident the boating industry is doing well this year.”
The statistics certainly bear up this claim, with first quarter imports up from SKr297 million (E32 million) in 2005 to SKr348 million (E38 million) in the first three months of 2006. It is a trend that has been evident for the past few years, with figures for the first 11 months of 2005 showing a notable 34 per cent increase in imports since 2004, and a substantial increase of 80 per cent since 2003. Sweboat’s optimistic outlook on the export front is also backed up by strong previous years — during the first 11 months of 2005 exports reached SKr1.5 billion (E162 million), an increase of eight per cent on 2004 and 15 per cent on 2003. Norway leads Swedish export destinations, followed by Germany, the UK and The Netherlands. Imports are derived mainly from Sweden’s Nordic neighbours, with Finland as its main source, as well as Germany and the US.
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Summarised from the Swedish Business Report in IBI's August/September 2006 issue .
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