Both exports and imports of services increased in the first quarter
According to Statistics Estonia and Eesti Pank, in the first quarter of 2023, Estonia’s exports of services grew by 15% and imports by 11% at current prices compared with the first quarter of 2022.
Jane Leppmets, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that, in the first quarter of 2023, sales of services to non-residents totalled 2.7 billion euros and purchases of services from non-residents amounted to 2.1 billion euros. “The balance of foreign trade in services was in surplus by 558 million euros. The surplus was 125 million euros bigger than in the same quarter last year,” added Leppmets.
In the first quarter of 2023, the most exported services were other business services (incl. other business support services), worth 810 million euros. This was followed by exports of transport services (incl. road freight transport) for 654 million euros, and exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (incl. computer programming and consultancy) for 586 million euros. Compared with the first quarter of 2022, the biggest increase occurred in the exports of other business services, travel services, and telecommunications, computer and information services. Only the exports of maintenance and repair services decreased year on year.
Finland was the top partner country for exports of services in the first quarter, with travel services being the biggest export item. Finland was followed by Sweden, with transport services being the main type of services supplied, and Latvia, where Estonian enterprises exported primarily other business services. The biggest increase also occurred in exports to these three countries, i.e. Finland (up by 76 million euros), Latvia (up by 38 million euros) and Sweden (up by 34 million euros). Year on year, there were more travel services supplied to Finland, greater exports of other business services to Latvia, and bigger exports of transport services to Sweden. The biggest fall was registered in exports of services to Russia (down by 52 million euros) and Switzerland (down by 23 million euros). The supply of transport services to these countries was smaller than in the first quarter of 2022.
The main services imported to Estonia in the first quarter were other business services (incl. other business support services) for 650 million euros. This was followed by imports of transport services (incl. sea freight transport) for 608 million euros, and imports of telecommunications, computer and information services (incl. computer programming and consultancy) for 398 million euros. Compared with the first quarter of 2022, the biggest rise occurred in the purchases of telecommunications, computer and information services, other business services, and travel services from non-residents. There was a decrease only in the imports of transport services.
As in exports, the top partner country for imports of services in the first quarter of 2023 was Finland which mainly supplied transport services to Estonia. Finland was followed by Germany, which also mainly sold transport services to Estonia, and Ireland, from which other business services were imported the most. The biggest rise was recorded in the imports of services from Ireland (up by 42 million euros), Lithuania (up by 41 million euros), and Latvia (up by 24 million euros). Year on year, there were greater imports of other business services from Ireland, more purchases of telecommunications, computer and information services from Lithuania, and more imports of travel services from Latvia. The biggest decline occurred in imports of services from Russia (down by 31 million euros), the United Kingdom (down by 15 million euros), and Belarus (down by 11 million euros). Compared with the first quarter of 2022, there were lower imports of transport services from Russia and Belarus, and fewer purchases of other business services from the United Kingdom.
|
Country of destination, group of countries |
Exports, million euros |
Share, % |
Change on previous year, % |
Country of consignment, group of countries |
Imports, million euros |
Share, % |
Change on previous year, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
TOTAL |
2,664 |
100 |
15 |
TOTAL |
2,106 |
100 |
11 |
|
EU-27 |
1,764 |
66 |
25 |
EU-27 |
1,494 |
71 |
16 |
|
Euro area 20 |
1,361 |
51 |
25 |
Euro area 20 |
1,192 |
57 |
15 |
|
Non-EU |
901 |
34 |
-1 |
Non-EU |
612 |
29 |
1 |
|
1. Finland |
416 |
16 |
22 |
1. Finland |
172 |
8 |
10 |
|
2. Sweden |
205 |
8 |
20 |
2. Germany |
167 |
8 |
-1 |
|
3. Latvia |
182 |
7 |
26 |
3. Ireland |
157 |
7 |
37 |
|
4. USA |
159 |
6 |
12 |
4. Lithuania |
150 |
7 |
38 |
|
5. Germany |
158 |
6 |
26 |
5. Latvia |
124 |
6 |
24 |
|
6. United Kingdom |
157 |
6 |
-4 |
6. Sweden |
110 |
5 |
18 |
|
7. Lithuania |
137 |
5 |
19 |
7. United Kingdom |
107 |
5 |
-12 |
|
8. Netherlands |
93 |
3 |
21 |
8. Poland |
88 |
4 |
33 |
|
9. France |
66 |
2 |
40 |
9. USA |
68 |
3 |
21 |
|
10. Poland |
60 |
2 |
18 |
10. Netherlands |
66 |
3 |
0 |
| Type of service (according to EBOPS 2010) | Exports of services | Imports of services | Balance, million euros | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Million euros |
Share, % |
Change on previous year, % | Million euros | Share, % | Change on previous year, % | ||
| TOTAL | 2,664 | 100 | 15 | 2,106 | 100 | 11 | 558 |
| Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others (SA) | 83 | 3 | 6 | 43 | 2 | 80 | 40 |
| Maintenance and repair services n.i.e. (SB) | 50 | 2 | -5 | 30 | 1 | 13 | 20 |
| Transport (SC) | 654 | 25 | 2 | 608 | 29 | -5 | 46 |
| Travel (SD) | 272 | 10 | 44 | 257 | 12 | 29 | 14 |
| Construction (SE) | 84 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 70 | 66 |
| Insurance and pension services (SF) | 5 | 0 | 11 | 13 | 1 | 28 | -8 |
| Financial services (excl. insurance and pension services) (SG) | 50 | 2 | 37 | 40 | 2 | 24 | 10 |
| Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e. (SH) | 23 | 1 | 105 | 19 | 1 | 40 | 4 |
| Telecommunications, computer and information services (SI) | 586 | 22 | 15 | 398 | 19 | 22 | 187 |
| Other business services (SJ) | 810 | 30 | 19 | 650 | 31 | 10 | 160 |
| Personal, cultural and recreational services (SK) | 33 | 1 | 28 | 21 | 1 | 31 | 12 |
| Government goods and services (SL) | 16 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 7 |
Statistics Estonia collects and analyses the data on foreign trade in services in cooperation with Eesti Pank, as commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, with the aim to determine how exporting and importing enterprises are performing in Estonia.
See also the foreign trade section on our website.
More detailed data have been published in the statistical database. Due to rounding, the sum of rows in some tables may differ from the sum total of the column.
For further information:
Helen Maria Raadik
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9181
press [at] stat.ee