NOK 7.2 billion trade surplus

Crude oil and natural gas exports totalled NOK 12.3 billion in May, while the value of traditional goods was close behind at NOK 12.1 billion. Imports of traditional goods came to NOK 17.2 billion, giving a surplus of NOK 7.2 billion in external trade in merchandise, according to preliminary trade figures from Statistics Norway. Ships and oil platforms are not included in the figures.

May's trade surplus is up NOK 3.9 billion compared to May last year. The surplus for the first five months of the year was NOK 36.7 billion, against NOK 25 billion for the same period last year. The trade deficit in traditional goods for the same period including May showed little change from last year, which means that the improvement in the trade surplus was the result of increased exports of oil and gas.

New statistics

External trade in goods, May 1996.
Statistics are published every month in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and the Monthly Bulletin of External Trade. Detailed information on countries and goods will be available from Customer Services, external trade, tel. +47 21 09 47 52/53 beginning Tuesday 25 June and will be published in the Monthly Bulletin of External Trade week 27. More information: Øyvind Hagen, tel. +47 21 09 47 26, e-mail: oyh@ssb.no or Lars A. Lunde, tel. +47 21 09 47 08, e-mail: lal@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue 25, 1996