In May, exports of goods grew by 9% and imports by 4%

The trade deficit was 224 million euros, which is 63 million euros less than in May 2025.

Jane Leppmets, foreign trade statistics analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that intra-EU exports of goods were up by 13% and intra-EU imports grew by 9%. “There was a decline in extra-EU trade with exports decreasing by 3% and imports by 16%. The fall in extra-EU imports of goods was influenced by the high reference base of May last year, which was due to large-scale transactions in the defence sector in May a year ago,” explained Leppmets.

Goods of Estonian origin represented 62% of total exports

Re-exports, i.e. the exports of previously imported goods, increased by 15% in May year on year. Exports of goods of Estonian origin grew by 5%. Goods of Estonian origin represented 62% of total exports, down from 64% in May last year. Electrical equipment, wood and articles of wood, and agricultural products and food preparations were the most exported commodities of Estonian origin. In exports of goods of Estonian origin, the biggest increase occurred in the exports of mechanical appliances (up by 17 million euros) and electrical equipment (up by 16 million euros), and the biggest decrease was registered in the exports of wood and articles of wood (down by 7 million euros) and agricultural products and food preparations (down by 6 million euros).

In total exports, the top commodities in May were electrical equipment (15% of total exports), mineral products (12%) and agricultural products and food preparations (11%). Compared with May 2025, the greatest increase was recorded in the exports of mineral products, including natural gas, fuel components and electricity – up by 78 million euros, or 64%. The exports of mechanical appliances grew by 31 million euros, or 25%.

Estonia’s top export partners in May were Finland (15% of Estonia’s total exports), Latvia (13%) and Lithuania (10%). The main commodities exported were electrical equipment to Finland, mineral products to Latvia, and transport equipment to Lithuania. Exports of goods to the Netherlands grew the most (by 39 million euros, or 67%), with more dispatches of mineral products. The biggest fall occurred in exports to Singapore (down by 36 million euros, or 96%) due to fewer exports of mineral products.

Estonia’s top import partner was Finland

The main commodities imported in May were transport equipment (14% of Estonia’s total imports), electrical equipment (14%), agricultural products and food preparations (12%) and mineral products (12%). Compared with May 2025, the biggest increase was recorded in the imports of mineral products, including diesel fuel, natural gas and electricity (up by 63 million euros, or 38%), and electrical equipment (up by 41 million euros, or 18%).

Estonia’s top import partner in May was Finland (13%), followed by Latvia (10%), Germany (10%) and Lithuania (10%). The main commodities imported were mineral products from Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, and transport equipment from Germany. The greatest increase was recorded in the arrivals of goods from Finland (up by 40 million euros, or 18%) and Sweden (up by 29 million euros, or 21%). There were greater imports of mineral products from Finland and more imports of transport equipment from Sweden. Compared with May 2025, the biggest decrease occurred in imports of goods from the Republic of South Africa (down by 46 million euros, or 99%) and from the USA (down by 44 million euros, or 67%), which was related to the major defence-related transactions carried out in May last year.

Statistics Estonia performs the statistical activity “Foreign trade” for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with the aim to determine how exporting and importing enterprises are performing in Estonia.

Data as at 10 July 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. Statistics Estonia’s foreign trade application provides visualised foreign trade data for Estonia.

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 (press[at]stat[dot]ee) 

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