Trade up in June, imports from Russia and Belarus down

Estonia’s exports of goods amounted to nearly 1.9 billion and imports to 2.1 billion euros at current prices. The trade deficit was 284 million euros – up by 28 million euros compared with June 2021.

Evelin Puura, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, pointed out that imports have grown at a faster pace in both quarters of the first half-year, which has doubled the trade deficit compared with the same periods last year. “The trade deficit has, in turn, been widened by faster price increases for imported raw materials and goods than for exported goods,” Puura noted.

The main commodities exported in June were mineral fuels and electricity, electrical equipment, and wood and articles of wood. Compared with June 2021, the biggest increase occurred in the exports of mineral fuels and electricity, which grew by 163 million euros. The exports of wood and articles of wood was up by 62 million euros, and the exports of agricultural products and food preparations by 38 million euros.

Estonia’s biggest partner was Finland, followed by Latvia and Sweden. “The main commodities exported were metal structures and other steel products and electrical equipment to Finland, electricity and automobiles to Latvia, and wood and articles of wood, prefabricated wooden buildings and communication equipment to Sweden. The biggest increase occurred in exports to Latvia, Norway, and Finland. More electricity, wood and articles of wood, and bitumen were exported to Latvia, and there were larger dispatches of motor fuels and prefabricated wooden buildings to Norway and metal structures to Finland,” added Puura.

Re-exports from Estonia increased by 40%, exports of domestic goods by 21%. Goods of Estonian origin accounted for 68% of the total exports of goods. In the case of goods of Estonian origin, the biggest rise occurred in the exports of wood and articles of wood (incl. wood pellets), agricultural products and food preparations (incl. milk), processed mineral fuels, and prefabricated wooden buildings.

The main commodities imported to Estonia were mineral fuels and electricity, transport equipment, and electrical equipment. The imports of mineral fuels and electricity increased the most (up by 110 million euros), followed by imports of base metals and articles of base metal (up by 64 million euros), and wood and articles of wood (up by 40 million euros).

The top partner countries for Estonia’s imports of goods were Finland, Germany, and Sweden. The biggest rise was recorded in imports from Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. There were greater imports of electricity and motor fuels from Finland, transport equipment and mineral products from Sweden, and various measuring instruments, mineral products, and gravel from the Netherlands. Imports fell the most from Belarus and Russia.

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:

Vahur Koorits
Communications Partner
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 625 9204

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