Exports of services grew by 4% in the first quarter

In the first quarter, the balance of foreign trade in services was in surplus by 765 million euros. The surplus increased by 114 million euros compared with the first quarter of 2025.

Jane Leppmets, foreign trade analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that exports of services to European Union (EU) countries were up by 7% and intra-EU imports by 5%. She added that extra-EU trade in services declined, with exports falling by 1% and imports by 9%. “The fall in extra-EU exports resulted from the decreased supply of telecommunications, computer and information services to the USA and lower exports of transport services to Uzbekistan. As for imports, the most significant decrease occurred in purchases of transport services from the United Kingdom and in the imports of telecommunications, computer and information services from the USA,” explained Leppmets.

Exports of services to Cyprus grew the most

In the first quarter, the top services exported were other business services (incl. other business support services, advertising services and management services) for 1.1 billion euros. This was followed by exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (incl. computer programming and consultancy) for 848 million euros, and exports of transport services (incl. road freight transport) for 564 million euros. Compared with the first quarter of 2025, exports of other business services increased the most (up by 172 million euros) in the first quarter this year. The biggest decline was registered in the exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (down by 44 million euros) and construction services (down by 33 million euros).

Estonia’s top export partner for services was Finland (13% of total exports), followed by the United States (9%) and Germany (7%). The main services supplied to Finland were travel and transport services. Telecommunications, computer and information services were the most exported service to the United States, and transport services were the biggest export item to Germany. The biggest increase was seen in the supply of services to Cyprus, with increased exports of other business services, including advertising services. Exports of services to the United States showed the biggest decline, as there was decreased supply of telecommunications, computer and information services.

Lithuania, Ireland and Germany were the top partner countries for imports of services

In the first quarter, the main services imported to Estonia were other business services (incl. other business support services, management services and advertising services) for 868 million euros. This was followed by imports of transport services (incl. road and sea freight transport) for 558 million euros and telecommunications, computer and information services (incl. computer programming and consultancy) for 526 million euros. In the first quarter, the biggest rise year on year occurred in the imports of other business services (up by 44 million euros), while purchases of transport services decreased the most (down by 66 million euros).

“The top partner countries for Estonia’s imports of services were Lithuania, Ireland and Germany, with each accounting for 7% of total imports of services,” said Leppmets. Other business services were the top category of services purchased from these countries in the first quarter. Compared with the first quarter of 2025, the biggest rise was recorded in imports of services from Ireland (up by 38 million euros) due to increased purchases of other business services, including advertising services. The biggest fall was registered in imports of services from the United Kingdom (down by 33 million euros) and Latvia (down by 28 million euros). With both countries, there were fewer purchases of transport services: services incidental to rail transport from the United Kingdom and air transport services from Latvia.

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.

Data as at 3 June 2026 are published. The indicator values may change if there are any revisions made in the data sources after this date.

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.

When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.

For further information:

Annaliisa Köss
Media Relations Partner
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 5696 6484
press [at] stat.ee

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