Turnover in industry, trade, services all decline in Dec 2020

The turnover in industry, trade and services all declined in December 2020, reported Xinhua, quoting Statistics Finland on Monday.

In December, working day adjusted turnover in industry declined 7.7 percent year-on-year (YoY).

Among the main industries, turnover in the chemical industry decreased the most, down 11.6 percent than one year earlier. Turnover also declined in the forest industry, by 8.9 percent YoY. Output increased the most in mining and quarrying, by 12 percent from December 2019.

Adjusted for working days, turnover decreased by 6.5 percent in 2020 from the previous year.

Commenting on the report, Finnish language business daily Kauppalehti noted on Monday that mining has been helped by the increase in metal prices on the world markets. The chemical industry suffered from the low price of oil, which increased again towards the end of the year.

Adjusted for working days, Finland's turnover in total trade decreased by 1.9 percent YoY in December.

Turnover in retail trade has developed positively since May last year due to strong growth in daily consumer goods and department store trade. This growth continued in December as turnover rose by 2.0 percent compared to one year earlier. However, wholesale trade, the biggest trade industry in terms of turnover, had decreased throughout 2020 and in December it fell by 4.9 percent.

Adjusted for working days, Finland's turnover in total trade decreased by 1.0 percent in 2020 from the previous year.

Turnover in the country's service industries in December 2020 fell by 10.8 percent from the same month of 2019. Service output or volume, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, fell by 7.9 percent over the same period.

Of the main service industries, turnover in accommodation and food service activities was down 49.0 percent YoY, and the drop in the arts, entertainment and recreation activities was 32.3 percent. The most favorable development in December 2020 was recorded in information and communication, where turnover grew by 2.9 percent from one year earlier.