In the third quarter, exports of services reached the highest level of recent years

News
Posted on 12 December 2022, 8:00

According to Statistics Estonia and Eesti Pank, in the third quarter of 2022, Estonia’s exports of services grew by 32% and imports by 33% year on year. Estonia’s exports of services totalled 2.8 billion euros and imports of services 2.2 billion euros. The balance of foreign trade in services was in surplus by 568 million euros, which is 129 million euros more than in the same quarter last year.

Jane Leppmets, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that foreign trade in services was primarily boosted by the increased exports and imports of travel services and other business services. “In the third quarter, there was increased trade in services with almost all our main foreign trade partners. The exceptions were Germany, from where Estonia imported fewer services, and Russia, due to the fall in both the supply and purchases of services for the second quarter running,” added Leppmets.

In the third quarter of 2022, the most exported services were other business services (incl. advertising services, business and management consulting and public relations services), transport services (incl. road and sea freight transport), and telecommunications, computer and information services. Compared with the third quarter of 2021, the biggest increase occurred in the exports of travel services (up by 218 million euros), followed by exports of other business services (up by 206 million euros) and exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (up by 143 million euros).

In the third quarter of 2022, Finland was the top partner country for exports of services. The main services supplied to Finland were travel services and transport services. Finland was followed by Sweden, with transport services being the biggest export item, and the USA, where Estonian enterprises exported primarily telecommunications, computer and information services. The biggest increase occurred in exports to Finland which grew by 150 million euros, mainly due to greater exports of travel services.

The main services imported to Estonia in the third quarter were transport services (incl. sea freight transport), other business services (incl. advertising services, business and management consulting and public relations services) and travel services (incl. other business travel). Compared with the third quarter of 2021, the biggest rise occurred in the imports of the same three groups. The imports of other business services grew by 302 million euros, the imports of travel services by 174 million euros and the imports of transport services by 100 million euros. The biggest decline was recorded in the imports of telecommunications, computer and information services (down by 43 million euros).

In the third quarter, the top partner country for imports of services was Finland which mainly supplied transport and travel services to Estonia. Finland was followed by Germany and Latvia – transport services were the main type of services supplied by these countries. In the third quarter, the biggest rise was recorded in imports of services from Luxembourg (up by 63 million euros), Finland (up by 56 million euros) and Ireland (up by 43 million euros). There were greater imports of other business services from Luxembourg and Ireland, and more purchases of travel and transport services from Finland.

Estonia's foreign trade in services by quarter, 2018–2022
Estonia’s main partners in foreign trade in services, 3rd quarter 2022

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

2,765

100

32

TOTAL

2,198

100

33

EU-27

1,777

64

38

EU-27

1,557

71

36

Euro area 19

1,390

50

42

Euro area 19

1,245

57

38

Non-EU

988

36

22

Non-EU

640

29

26

1. Finland

498

18

43

1. Finland

198

9

39

2. Sweden

196

7

15

2. Germany

167

8

-24

3. USA

171

6

52

3. Latvia

142

6

28

4. Germany

169

6

39

4. Lithuania

138

6

31

5. United Kingdom

164

6

9

5. United Kingdom

108

5

14

6. Latvia

157

6

29

6. Sweden

104

5

19

7. Lithuania

134

5

31

7. Ireland

99

5

78

8. Netherlands

86

3

42

8. Poland

88

4

25

9. Russia

77

3

-20

9. Netherlands

76

3

39

10. Ireland

65

2

88

10. Luxembourg

73

3

626

Exports and imports of services by type of service, 3rd quarter 2022

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

2,765

100

32

2,198

100

33

568

Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others (SA)

69

3

-4

25

1

41

44

Maintenance and repair services n.i.e. (SB)

57

2

17

32

2

18

25

Transport (SC)

694

25

13

691

32

17

2

Travel (SD)

394

14

124

383

17

83

10

Construction (SE)

100

4

5

14

1

-36

86

Insurance and pension services (SF)

6

0

57

9

0

14

-3

Financial services (excl. insurance and pension services) (SG)

30

1

8

27

1

-17

3

Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e. (SH)

16

1

-9

16

1

-6

1

Telecommunications, computer and information services (SI)

559

20

34

337

15

-11

222

Other business services (SJ)

786

28

36

633

29

91

153

Personal, cultural and recreational services (SK)

39

1

36

22

1

51

17

Government goods and services (SL)

15

1

16

8

0

6

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