Trade volumes increased for the fifth month in a row

In July, Estonia’s exports of goods amounted to 1.5 billion euros and imports to 1.7 billion euros at current prices. The trade deficit was 157 million euros, which is 17 million euros higher than in July 2020.

Evelin Puura, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the level of foreign trade has changed considerably since March– each month, the value of exports has exceeded 1.4 billion euros and the value of imports has exceeded 1.6 billion euros. “The higher value of trade is due to bigger volumes as well as the rising prices of materials. A similar trend is likely to continue in the near future, as Estonia’s key trade partners reported a more than 10% growth in exports and imports in the first half of the year,” explained Puura.

The main commodities exported in July were mineral fuels, electrical equipment, base metals and articles of base metal, and wood and articles of wood. Compared to July 2020, the biggest increases occurred in the exports of mineral fuels (up by 174 million euros), base metals and articles of base metal (up by 49 million euros) and electrical equipment (up by 38 million euros).

The main partner country for Estonia’s exports of goods was Finland, followed by Latvia and the Netherlands. The biggest increase occurred in exports to the Netherlands and Singapore, with larger dispatches of processed fuel oil. There was also a rise in exports to the USA due to greater exports of telecommunication equipment.

Re-exports from Estonia increased by 20% and exports of domestic goods by 32%. Goods of Estonian origin accounted for 70% of the total exports of goods. In the case of goods of Estonian origin, the biggest rise occurred in the exports of processed fuels, metal waste, coniferous sawn timber and coniferous wood strips.

The main commodities imported to Estonia were mineral fuels, base metals and articles of base metal, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical equipment and transport equipment. The imports of mineral fuels increased the most (up by 104 million euros), followed by imports of base metals and articles of base metal (up by 76 million euros) and wood and articles of wood (up by 51 million euros).

In July, the top partner countries for Estonia’s imports of goods were Finland, Russia and Germany. The biggest rise was recorded in imports from Russia, Finland and Belarus. There were increased imports of fuel oils and coniferous sawn timber from Russia, electrical energy and motor fuel from Finland, and fuel oils from Belarus.

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.

See also the foreign trade section on our website. Visualised data of Estonia’s foreign trade can be viewed in Statistics Estonia’s application.

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:

Kadri Kütt
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9181

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