Finnish goods exports to China rising faster

Finnish Customs reports that, while Finnish goods exports overall increased by less than 15 % last year, the value of Finnish goods going to China rose by 27 % to 3.4 billion euros, according to Bank of Finland. China's share of goods exports increased by half a percentage point to just under 6 %.

Imports from China rose 12 % to 4.5 billion euros, accounting for roughly 7 % of Finland's total imports. Finland's trade deficit with China contracted by 16 % to 1.1 billion euros, but still accounted for nearly half of Finland's total goods trade deficit of 2.5 billion euros.

Finnish Customs noted that over a fifth of Finnish exports to China in 2016 were re-exports, i.e. goods produced in a third country.

In 2016, re-exports rose by 17 %, making China Finland's third largest destination for re-exports after Sweden and Russia. The largest re-export category was electrical machinery & equipment.

Statistics Finland's figures show that Chinese accounted for 7 % of the over 3 million foreign travellers visiting Finland last year. These foreign travellers recorded nearly 6.6 million overnight stays in paid lodgings, or 14 % more than in 2016. Overnight stays of Chinese tourists increased by 34 %, more than for any other nationality. Russians, Germans, Swedish and British tourists had more overnight stays than the Chinese, who posted 311,000 overnight stays in Finland last year.