Trade balance posts €2b deficit in 2020

The trade balance showed a deficit of 2.0 billion euro in 2020, which is significantly higher than the trade deficit in 2019, according to the preliminary statistics released by the Finnish Customs on Monday.

The deficit in the trade with EU countries increased to 4.0 billion euro in 2020.

Trade with non-EU countries experienced a surplus. In 2020, the trade surplus amounted to 1.5 billion euro.

In 2019, the balance of trade deficit amounted to almost 0.8 billion euro. At that time, trade with other EU countries had a deficit of 2.3 billion euro and there was a surplus of 1.5 billion euro in the trade with non-EU countries. Both years were calculated with EU27. In 2018, there was a trade deficit of 2.9 billion euro.

According to the statistics, the value of Finland’s export of goods decreased by 11.9 per cent in 2020. The value of exports amounted to 57.3 billion euro. The value of imports dropped by 9.9 per cent over the year to 59.4 billion euro.

In 2019, exports increased by 2.2 per cent, whereas imports decreased by 1.1 per cent. In 2018, both import and export rose by 6.6 per cent year on year.

In December 2020, a vessel worth 950 million euro was exported, In December of the previous year, too, a ship of almost the same value was exported.

Export to EU countries decreased by 12.8 per cent in 2020. Exportsto the euro zone went up by 13.6 per cent. Export to non-EU countries shrank by 10.7 per cent. Import from EU countries dropped by 7.5 per cent and import from other countries by 13.1 per cent.

In 2019, export to EU countries increased by 2.5 per cent, and export to non-EU countries increased by 1.7 per cent. In 2019, import from EU countries increased less than Finland’s export to them, by 0.7 per cent. Meanwhile, import from non-EU countries decreased by 3.5 per cent.