Staffan’s reflections

Summer is starting to feel distant and the days are getting shorter, but the sailing season is not quite over yet. The last weekend in September I had some really nice days in the Stockholm archipelago. However, the water is telling us that summer is over. Plus 11°C requires a sauna before swimming!

Is the sea temperature also an indication of the industrial economy?

Finland had a declining GDP in 2023–2024, but in 2025 an increase of 1% is expected. Sweden shows a similar trend with a small decline in 2023, followed by growth of just over 1% in both 2024 and 2025. This is far from a boom, but still a step forward.

Traditionally, the Nordic countries have had strong economies with high employment and low unemployment. Now things look different. Unemployment in Finland is at 9.7% and in Sweden at 8.7% – higher than both Greece and Italy, something that would have been unthinkable just 10–15 years ago. In our Baltic neighbours, unemployment is slightly lower, 6–7%, while Norway is at a more familiar 4.6%.

In Sweden, there is an election in a year and the recently presented state budget is clearly aimed at the voters, with relief for households through, among other things, reduced food VAT and reduced income tax. The question is whether it is enough to boost the economy. Let’s hope that the sea temperature does not correlate with the economy, because then the autumn will be cold in other ways as well.

At Mekanex, despite the economic slowdown, we are pushing ahead with our plans. During the summer, we hired two new sales engineers in Sweden, which makes us better equipped to handle more inquiries and to meet our customers more often. Something we plan to implement in all the countries we operate in.

We are also celebrating our anniversaries on the other side of the Baltic Sea. The operation in Finland started 40 years ago and this year it’s also 20 years since we opened in Estonia. We celebrated this in September with a pleasant gathering in Helsinki with current and former employees.

We are constantly developing our offer to our customers. We are now expanding our range of stocked worm gears from Italian Hydro-Mec with size 085. This means a shaft distance of 85 mm and a capacity of up to 347 Nm. For you as a customer, this means shorter delivery times and greater flexibility – we can now deliver worm gears in sizes 030, 045, 063 and 085 directly from our warehouse with gear ratios from 7:1 to 102:1. Read more about this in a separate article.

We have also launched a new chat function on our Swedish website – another easy way to get in touch with us. The chat is staffed during office hours. Welcome to try it out – we help customers in Swedish and English!

We look forward to an eventful autumn and hope to see you, at meetings, fairs or via our new chat.

Enjoy reading!