Estonian exports to Poland just crossed €1B for the first time — and there’s a publicly available strategy to help your company get a piece of it.

Estonian exports are on the rise, and there’s hard data to prove it. This time, it has been announced that export volume to Poland exceeded €1B for the first time last year. On 9 April, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a Poland Business Seminar in Tallinn, bringing together entrepreneurs, diplomats, and sector experts to take stock of the opportunity and share hard-won experience from the ground.

Opening the event, Deputy Secretary General Mariin Ratnik set the tone: Poland is now Estonia’s sixth-largest export market, and — unusually — the growth has come primarily from goods and industry rather than services.

Why Poland deserves attention

Poland is the sixth-largest economy in the European Union, sitting behind Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Its economy expanded by an estimated 3.2% in 2024 — well ahead of the EU average of 0.9%. Forecasts point to further growth of 3.7% in 2025 and 3.4% in 2026.

Purchasing power has risen 28% since 2019, driven by strong domestic demand and sustained wage growth. The Polish złoty was the best-performing currency in the Central and Eastern European region in 2024. The country’s public procurement market alone was valued at approximately €61.6B in 2023 — around 8% of GDP — with transport, energy, and defence receiving the most investment in the near term.

For Estonian companies, the sectors identified as most promising are ICT, timber, FinTech, CleanTech, and DefenceTech. Opportunities also exist in food and beverages, maritime technology, HealthTech, and EdTech, though competition in those areas is stiffer and requires more targeted positioning.

What it takes to succeed

Estonian Ambassador to Poland Miko Haljas and the Polish Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission Anna Pełka both described bilateral relations as excellent — underpinned by a shared position on supporting Ukraine and on European security architecture. The defence sector is currently the most active area of cooperation, but the political alignment creates a broadly favourable backdrop for commercial ties more generally.

Martti Rell from Civitta, which prepared a dedicated Poland export strategy for Estonian businesses, pained a more detailed picture: Poland is a large, competitive market with a growing consumer base, and the smart approach is to enter through a specific region rather than attempting a national launch from the outset. The strategy is publicly available and walks companies through sector-by-sector opportunities, market barriers, business culture, and entry tactics.

Practical experience from Estonian companies already operating there reinforced that advice, with a few recurring themes emerging.

• Presence matters. Frankenburg Technologies’ Tomaš Pozlevič: if your company cannot be found in Polish on Google, you will not be taken seriously. A LinkedIn profile and genuine value creation can open doors — but only if the local digital footprint exists in the first place.
• Relationships take time. Waybiller’s Markus Törnberg, who manages the company’s Polish market operations, described Polish business culture as deliberate and relationship-driven. Meetings require preparation, patience is essential, and everything simply takes longer than it would in Estonia. A well-executed pilot project, however, can become the most powerful market-entry tool available — opening introductions that no cold outreach could.
• Bureaucracy is real. Zaszewska-Topczewska of Polish debt collection firm Julianus Inkasso offered a telling illustration of how paperwork functions in Poland: the country now has a digital court submission system, yet courts still print the document — and then print a second document to confirm that the first one is correct. Paper is not going anywhere. Foreign companies should factor administrative lead times into their planning accordingly.

Getting started

The Polish–Estonian Chamber of Commerce is active in bridging the two business communities, and the Enterprise Estonia export adviser for Poland (Daniel Bajer) as well as economic diplomats at the Warsaw Embassy are available to companies seeking guidance.

The Poland export strategy, commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is freely accessible and is the recommended first step for any company seriously considering market entry. It covers sector analysis, business culture specifics, legal structures, procurement pathways, and regional entry points.

Are you interested in trading with Estonia? Enterprise Estonia is providing sourcing services for foreign enterprises. Contact Estonian export advisors or use our free e-consulting service to start trade with Estonia.