Trade balance posts €400m deficit in Jan

The trade balance was in deficit of EUR 400 million in January, according to the preliminary statistics of international trade in goods provided by Finnish Customs on Wednesday.

In January 2022, the trade balance was EUR 1.0 billion in deficit.

The value of Finnish exports increased by 7,1 per cent in January year-on-year. The value exports in January was EUR 6.2 billion.

Export volume remained at the level of the previous year, but export prices increased by 8.3 per cent year-on-year.

The value of imports decreased by 3.3 per cent in January and the value of imports was EUR 6.6 billion.

Import prices increased by 4.2 per cent, but import volume decreased by 5.6 per cent compared to January 2022.

Change of export volume during the latest 12 months was minus 5.0 per cent (12 month moving average February 2022 – January 2023). The corresponding figure for import volume ‘was minus 0.4 per cent.

Value of exports to EU member states increased by 5.6 per cent and to non-EU countries by 9.1 per cent in January.

The export volume to EU countries decreased by 1.6 per cent, but increased to non-EU countries 2.3 per cent during the same time.

Value of imports from EU countries remained at the level of the previous year, but imports from non-EU countries decreased by 7.3 per cent.

The volume of imports from EU member states decreased by 2.8 per cent and from non-EU countries by 7.3 per cent.

Croatia joined the euro area in January 2023. Starting from the January 2023 preliminary statistics, Croatia has been added to the country group euro zone retroactively from 2020. Similar change was made in calculation of the seasonal adjusted and trend values. The impact on values is minor.