Export expectations

For Agakos, a Greek bronze foundry based in Thessaloniki, the financial storm that began in 2008 has rolled over the company twice.

"Costs have risen - electricity, taxes, everything," export manager Nikolaos Angelidis told DW. "And our revenues have fallen by about half."

The company's bronze castings are used primarily by machinery and equipment manufacturers. Many of those companies are based outside of Greece and approximately half of Agakos' profits come from abroad.

But the importers of Agakos' wares are becoming increasingly cautious about doing business with the company, Angelidis said. Some are even questioning whether they should work with Greek businesses at all.

"They say to themselves, 'That's a Greek company talking to us. Should we? Or shouldn't we?' with this crisis, no one knows what'll happen a day from now," Angelidis said.

Question of trust

Mistrust between businesses partners is a feeling Matthias Hackerschmidt knows all too well. The German works in sales and finance for Vioral, a Greek aluminum die-casting company. Many of his company's clients are in the electronics and automobile industries. They're worried, for example, that a Greek delivery company's bankruptcy could disrupt their supply chains.

"We were able to convince most of them to continue working with us, and to trust us," Hackerschmidt told DW. "We showed them our figures and our balance sheets. We were totally open. I believe that's the reason we were able to position ourselves in the market again relatively quickly."

As a result, the family-owned company with 45 employees was able to hold revenue losses to within 20 percent. That fact that 100 percent of Vioral's products are exported has been, in Hackerschmidt's view, a huge advantage throughout the crisis.

Income plunge

Southern European companies dependent on domestic markets, however, have been hit hard by the financial crisis. Spain's Alju, which manufactures machines for the treatment of metal surfaces, exports relatively little, export manager Jose Moya told DW.

"At our peak, with 42 employees, we had revenues of between 6 and 8 million euros," he said. "That was cut down to 3.5 million last year. We're talking about drops in revenues of 50 percent."

Alju is now focusing its efforts on clients outside of Spain. "We're going worldwide to find new markets and niches, and to get new clients," Moya said, adding that the plans has brough some success. Exports now account for 15 percent of the Alju's orders. Before the crisis, that number was at 3 percent.

An export Hail Mary?

Alju isn't the only company at the Hannover trade fair with exports in mind.

Omnisantos, an electric generator manufacturer in Portugal, has seen its sales in Portugal and Spain drop by 30 percent, according to Pedro Quelhas, the company's marketing director

"We're presenting ourselves here at the Hannover trade fair for the first time - and more than anything, because we want to win over Russian clients," he told DW.

For Borri, an Italian company specializing in power conversion systems, exports that make up 90 percent of revenues have given the company independence from its own domestic market.

"Things are really, really bad [in Italy] right now," sales manger Lorenzo Benzoni told DW. "There's no investment - nothing from the government, either. There's no trust. A lot of international companies are leaving."