Competitiveness concerns are also growing on the exports side as the emergence of global trade players, such as China, has resulted in a shrinking of the market shares of advanced economies, such as the euro area.
Nevertheless, extra-euro area export volumes have been growing above their historical trend in recent years due to the persistently robust growth in foreign demand which, in turn, seems to be driven by globalisation forces. However, competitiveness is a key issue and important questions remain on how exposed the euro area and its members are to competition from emerging economies.