Export of goods from Sweden increased last quarter for the first time since the financial crisis caused world trade to plunge.

• Swedish economy grows faster than expected
• Economic recovery taking hold in Sweden

During the first quarter, exports of goods from Sweden increased by 7.6 percent in volume compared to the first quarter of 2009, the statistics office said Wednesday.

This is the first time since the third quarter of 2008 that the volumes in foreign trade have increased, compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Sweden's GDP increased by 3 percent in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2009, the statistics office said last week. The economic upswing was considerably stronger than expected.

Despite the upturn, the export volume during the first quarter of 2010 was still around 10 and 15 percent under the levels of the first quarters of 2007 and 2008.

During the first quarter imports of goods increased in volume by 8.2 percent.

The upswing in export mainly has its background in upturns among most of the heavier product areas.

Mineral products, with a strong upturns for steel and iron, swelled by one third. IT and telecom products increased by 11 percent while road vehicles had an increase of 17 percent after upturns for passenger cars and spare parts. However a downturn of 4 percent was noted for pharmaceuticals.

According to material published by the OECD, the total export of goods from G7 countries decreased by 3.3 percent in volume during the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Italy's exports decreased the most, 12 percent. Germany's exports decreased by 3 percent while the US and Japan had exports decreased by 1 percent each.