Trade balance posts €300m deficit in January

The country’s trade balance showed a deficit of EUR 300 million in January this year, according to the international trade in goods statistics provided by the Finnish Customs.

In January 2019, the trade balance, however, marked a surplus of EUR 516, said a customs press release.

The year-on-year value of Finnish exports posted a 17.3 per cent decline in January. The value was EUR 4.8 billion. The country’s volume of exports registered a 16.6 per cent slide and export prices a modest 0.1 per cent decline year on year.

The value of imports showed a 3.7 per cent drop in January to about EUR 5.1 billion, while import prices marked a 3.5 per cent rise, but import volumes posted a 5.9 per cent rise compared to that in January 2019.

The export value of most of the main groups of export commodities declined in January. The value of exports of transport equipments fell drastically (-67.8 per cent) due to high vessel exports in the reference month. Its impact on the total export volume was significant and it partly explains the nosedive in overall exports in January compared to that in the corresponding month of the previous year.

Calculated without the impact of vessel deliveries in the reference month, total exports would have showed a 6.8 per cent decrease in January. The export value of forest industry products showed a 13.9 per cent slide and of petroleum products a 24.1 per cent drop.

Exports of other chemical industry products registered a decline of 9.1 per cent and of metals and metal products of 7.5 per cent. Exports of industrial machinery and equipments went 3.0 per cent up, but of electrical machinery and equipments posted a 3.9 per cent decline. Exports of food dipped 1.4 per cent, but exports of instruments and apparatus marked an 8.1 per cent decline.

The value of imports of industrial supplies showed a 4.1 per cent fall and of capital goods a decrease of 3.8 per cent in January. The value of imports of processed fuels and lubricants plummeted by 20.7 per cent, but imports of primary fuels rose by 2.4 per cent. Imports oftransport equipments and parts decreased by 3.5 per cent and of consumer goods by 3.5 per cent, while that of food and beverages marked a 0.9 per cent hike in January.

Exports to EU countries decreased by 21 per cent and exports to countries outside the EU fell by 11.2 per cent in January. Exports to the Netherlands and China increased in January, but exports to other major export countries declined.

Imports from EU countries fell by 4.7 per cent and from outside the EU by 2.2 per cent in January. Imports from the USA, China and the Netherlands increased, while imports from Germany, Sweden and Russia declined in January.