Double-dip? Recession? Swedish exporters believe that global demand will continue to rebound.

• Swedish companies expand in Thailand
• Volvo owner Geely said sales rocket in China

Swedish export -- which makes up about half of the country’s economy -- swelled by 15 percent last quarter as global demand picked up after the global downturn and Swedish export managers now believe that sales will continue to increase.

However, more and more gloomy US statistics is fueling concerns the world's largest economy could slip back into recession. The odds of a double-dip have risen as new data point to a worsening housing slump and the manufacturing sector slowing markedly amid high unemployment and weak consumer spending.

Figures presented by the Swedish Trade Council and Statistics Sweden Thursday said export managers outlook contracted slightly last quarter - but a clear majority of the managers forecast that trade will continue to increase.

Mauro Gozzo, chief economist at the trade promotion organization, told reporters Thursday that managers at the country’s large companies were more positive than at smaller companies, which may be a result of the financial crisis. A clear majority of the larger companies stated that order levels were to satisfaction.

Export is expected to increase the most in Asia; more than half of the polled managers said that sales probably would increase in Asia.

“The Swedish Trade Council has also seen a higher interest from Swedish companies to invest in the Thai market”, Håkan Nylander, head of the Swedish Trade Council in Southeast Asia, told The Swedish Wire. “Several companies are currently expanding their presence by hiring new staff, expanding distribution networks and searching for new suppliers”.

Sales in North America may also increase, according to the export index, despite growing concern that the US may slip back into recession.

"We see no sign of a slowdown in the U.S. economy in the index," Mauro Gozzo said.

Eighty percent of Sweden’s biggest companies reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates last quarter, according to a sum-up by Bloomberg.

SKF, the world's biggest supplier of ball bearings, a vital component of machinery everywhere, reported a big increase in profits in the second quarter. Demand for trucks also is a leading indicator of activity in every sector of the economy, and two of the main European truck makers, Scania and Volvo in Sweden, have reported unexpectedly strong second-quarter results.

The value of Swedish exports increased 10 percent to 553 billion kronor ($72 billion) during January-June 2010, compared to the same period last year At the same time, imports increased by 17 percent and amounted to 520 billion kronor. This results in a net trade surplus of 33 billion kronor. The net trade surplus for the same period in 2009 was 56 billion kronor.

Sweden's economy, which was hard-hit by the global financial crisis but which emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009, is today considered one of the strongest in Europe.