Estonian businesses should pay more attention to the opportunities offered by the large Polish market, which generally has been of minor importance as a destination for Estonian exports thus far, the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. “Although Central European countries such as Poland and Austria are situated rather close to Estonia, Estonian companies have not viewed these countries as important export destinations thus far,” Piret Potisepp, director of services a the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a press release. “We find that Central Europe is one of the best options for expanding one’s reach to the west.”
A survey conducted among Estonian businesses active in Poland illustrated several advantages in exporting one’s products to Poland. “The main advantages named by entrepreneurs are that Poland is situated quite close to Estonia, and has a market of 38.3 million consumers, which is significant compared to Estonia,” said Sven Mases, economic adviser at the Estonian Embassy in Poland. In comparison, the Estonian population totals just 1.3 million.
The embassy adviser described Poland as having a positive long-term perspective, meaning that economic growth there is set to continue at an annual rate of 3.5 percent on average until the middle of the century. As downsides of the Polish market, Mases named intense competition, a changing tax environment, excessive red tape and the need to handle one’s business exclusively in the Polish language.
