Finnish exports still in the doldrums

Trade balance still positive, but halved from 1-7/2008

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The value of Finnish exports in July reached just under EUR 3.5 billion, or 36% less than 12 months previously, according to foreign trade figures released on Friday by the Board of Customs.
      Imports were down by 39% at EUR 3,331 million. Both exports and imports in the first half of 2009 have been more than a third smaller than one year ago.
     
The value of exports of communications devices, machinery, and equipment, and the products of the chemicals industry in July declined by more than a third from the comparison period.
      Forest industry products exports were off by roughly 25%, while the metals branch saw exports practically halved from July 2008.
     
The decline in imports was attributable to falls in more or less the same categories of goods as on the export front, namely oil, metals, vehicles and vessels, machinery and plant, and products for the electrical and electronics industries.
     
The trade balance in July was positive at EUR 146 million.
      Between January and July the balance of trade surplus totalled EUR 1,046 million, or appreciably less than the EUR 2.3 billion recorded for the first seven months of 2008.
     
Exports to Russia in July were only around half of the value in the same month in 2008, while the figures for exports to Germany and Sweden fell by just over a third.
      By contrast, exports to The Netherlands and to China were off by only around 10%.
      Imports from Russia were down by around a third, or less than the average, and Russia remained clearly the largest country in terms of goods coming into Finland.
      Imports from Germany and Sweden were down by more than a third, and imports from Norway, Australia, and Kazakhstan slumped to just one-fifth of the 2008 figures. 
      The cause in these cases was reduced deliveries of oil (Norway), oil products (Kazakhstan), and mineral ores (Australia). 


Links:
  Board of Customs: Foreign Trade Statistics

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