In the second quarter, trade in services recovered to pre-crisis level
According to Statistics Estonia and Eesti Pank, in the second quarter, Estonia’s exports of services grew by 46% and imports of services by 125% year on year. Exports and imports of services amounted to 1.8 billion euros. Foreign trade in services was affected the most by growth in telecommunications, computer and information services, and transport services.
The trade deficit of foreign trade in services was 46 million euros, which is 454 million euros more than in the second quarter of the previous year.
According to Evelin Puura, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, following the steep decline in the second quarter of 2020, both exports and imports of services have started to grow and have now reached pre-crisis levels. “The exceptions are travel and construction services: their supply has not yet recovered and remains below the level of the second quarter of 2019,” said Puura.
The most exported services were transport services and other business services as well as telecommunications, computer and information services. Compared to the second quarter of last year, the biggest increase, by 191 million euros, occurred in the exports of transport services, followed by telecommunications, computer and information services (up by 177 million euros). Freight transport by road and sea was the biggest driver of growth for transportation services exports. Only the exports of construction services fell, by 9 million euros.
The main partner country for exports of services was Finland, to which the main services supplied were transport services, other business services and construction services. Finland was followed by Sweden and Germany. The biggest increases were in exports to Finland and the USA. The exports of processing services grew the most in exports to Finland and computer services in exports to the USA.
The biggest services imports in the second quarter were telecommunications, computer and information services, transport services and other business services. These were also imported the most compared to the same period of the previous year. The imports of telecommunications, computer and information services grew by 696 million euros, the imports of transport services by 121 million euros and the imports of other business services by 115 million euros.
Services were imported the most from Germany, led by telecommunications, computer and information services, transport services and other business services. The next ranking import partners were Finland and Lithuania. Imports grew the most from Germany, by nearly 12 times, driven by increased buying-in of telecommunications, computer and information services.
| Country of destination, group of countries | Exports, million euros | Share, % | Change on same quarter of previous year, % | Country ranking in 2020 | Country of destination, group of countries | Imports, million euros | Share, % | Change on same quarter of previous year, % | Country ranking in 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | 1,792 | 100 | 46 | KOKKU | 1,838 | 100 | 125 | ||
| EU-27 | 1,138 | 64 | 45 | EU-27 | 1,438 | 78 | 161 | ||
| Euro area 19 | 867 | 48 | 44 | Euro area 19 | 1,252 | 68 | 205 | ||
| Non-EU | 654 | 36 | 49 | Non-EU | 400 | 22 | 50 | ||
| 1. Finland | 303 | 17 | 22 | 1 | 1. Germany | 742 | 40 | 1089 | 3 |
| 2. Sweden | 154 | 9 | 32 | 2 | 2. Finland | 108 | 6 | 17 | 1 |
| 3. Germany | 116 | 6 | 58 | 3 | 3. Lithuania | 96 | 5 | 68 | 5 |
| 4. USA | 111 | 6 | 87 | 6 | 4. United Kingdom | 92 | 5 | 82 | 6 |
| 5. United Kingdom | 109 | 6 | 56 | 4 | 5. Latvia | 82 | 4 | 36 | 4 |
| 6.-7. Latvia | 89 | 5 | 59 | 5 | 6. Sweden | 74 | 4 | 12 | 2 |
| 6.-7. Lithuania | 89 | 5 | 37 | 7 | 7. Poland | 55 | 3 | 72 | 8 |
| 8. Russia | 76 | 4 | 90 | 10 | 8. Russia | 50 | 3 | 44 | 7 |
| 9. Norway | 56 | 3 | 32 | 9 | 9. Ireland | 49 | 3 | 126 | 11 |
| 10. Switzerland | 55 | 3 | 20 | 8 | 10. USA | 41 | 2 | 60 | 10 |
| Type of service (according to EBOPS2010) | Exports of services | Imports of services | Balance, million euros | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Million euros | Share, % | Change on previous year, % | Million euros | Share, % | Change on previous year, % | ||
| KOKKU | 1,792 | 100 | 46 | 1,838 | 100 | - | -46 |
| Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others (SA) | 83 | 5 | - | 25 | 1 | - | 58 |
| Maintenance and repair services n.i.e. (SB) | 56 | 3 | 5 | 25 | 1 | 47 | 30 |
| Transport (SC) | 546 | 30 | 54 | 439 | 24 | 38 | 107 |
| Travel (SD) | 101 | 6 | 61 | 106 | 6 | 61 | -6 |
| Construction (SE) | 87 | 5 | -9 | 27 | 1 | 13 | 61 |
| Insurance and pension services (SF) | 5 | 0 | - | 8 | 1 | 37 | -3 |
| Financial services (excl. insurance and pension services) (SG) | 20 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 1 | 14 | -7 |
| Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e. (SH) | 9 | 1 | - | 18 | 1 | 65 | -9 |
| Telecommunications, computer and information services (SI) | 401 | 22 | 79 | 844 | 46 | - | -444 |
| Other business services (SJ) | 457 | 26 | 28 | 298 | 16 | 63 | 160 |
| Personal, cultural and recreational services (SK) | 17 | 1 | 7 | 14 | 1 | - | 3 |
| Government goods and services n.i.e. (SL) | 10 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
Statistics Estonia collects and analyses the data of 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.