Continued decline in external trade in services

Published:

Exports of services from Norwegian non-financial enterprises decreased by 3.3 per cent from the 3rd quarter of 2016 to the 3rd quarter of 2017. Imports of services decreased by 3.8 per cent in the same period.

The statistics external trade in services for non-financial enterprises showed a decline in exports compared to the 2nd quarter of 2017. Exports of services decreased by 5.0 per cent. Imports of services are approximately unchanged compared to the previous quarter. Imports of services amounted to NOK 58.2 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2017 and exports of services amounted to NOK 50.0 billion in the same period. This resulted in a deficit in the balance of services of NOK 8.2 billion.

Some significant export figures

• The transport and storage industry is still the main contributor to Norwegian service exports, amounting to NOK 24.3 billion.

• Exports of services related to sea and coastal water transport increased by 8.0 per cent from the 3rd quarter of 2016, and ended at NOK 18.9 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2017.

• The non-Nordic EU-countries are still the most important market for exports of services from Norwegian non-financial enterprises. In the 3rd quarter of 2017, services amounting to NOK 17.9 billion were exported to these countries.

Imports of services – the most significant figures

• Enterprises within the transport and storage industry are still the main contributors when it comes to imports of services. The share of total imports in the 3rd quarter of 2017 ended at 28.0 per cent, equal to NOK 16.3 billion.

• The mining and quarrying industry imported services for NOK 13.1 billion, equal to 22.6 per cent of total imports of services.

• Business services were the largest group of services imported by Norwegian non-financial enterprises in the 3rd quarter of 2017. This accounted for NOK 10.3 billion, equal to a share of 17.8 per cent of total imports of services to non-financial enterprises.

• Enterprises from the non-Nordic EU countries supply Norwegian non-financial enterprises with 44.0 per cent of the total value of imports of services, corresponding to NOK 25.8 billion.

Figur 1

FIgure 1. External trade in services for non-financial enterprises

Figure 2. Exports of services by region

Q1-2014 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2015 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2016 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2017 Q2 Q3
EU except Nordic countries 30.5 32.3 34.2 30.8 30.9 34.4 34.1 33.5 32.3 33.9 33.6 35.3 33 35.5 35.8
Asia 17.2 20.5 17.8 19.2 18.5 17 17.7 17.7 17.1 15.3 16.9 13.5 17.8 15 15.2
North and Central America 15.5 17.2 14.4 20.7 15.6 14.7 14.9 16.1 15.5 15.3 15.9 14 14.4 13.7 12.8
Nordic countries 15.3 12.9 15.6 12.6 14.3 14 14.6 15.7 15.3 17 16.4 17.2 16.6 16.3 16.9
Other regions 15 14.7 14.6 15.3 17.3 16.1 16.3 15.7 16.7 15.3 14.9 16.9 14.8 15.7 16.6

Figure 3. Imports of services by region

Q1-2014 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2015 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2016 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1-2017 Q2
EU except Nordic countries 41.5 46.6 43.8 45.4 41.7 41 44.9 42.2 41.5 40.3 41.8 40.9 44.5 45
Asia 10.7 12.7 11.3 12.8 12.4 12.7 11.4 12.7 11.2 12.4 12.2 12.9 12.0 12.1
North and Central America 12.9 10.6 10.7 13.8 15.7 16.3 15 15.5 15.5 18.5 16.5 15.4 14.3 13.2
Nordic countries 23.8 21.8 25.2 20.5 20.9 21 22 22.1 21.8 19.3 21.1 21.1 20.2 20.9
Other regions 6.5 5.3 5.8 4.9 6.2 6.1 5.1 7.5 7.9 7.1 7.3 7.9 7.0 6.5

External trade in services, Q1 2017

A change has been made in the compilation of service types. Service grouping railway and land transport services was merged with air transport services into a new group of air and land transport services. This applies to Tables 2 and 4, which provides foreign trade services for non-financial corporations, by service type. In Statbank table 10192, the changes are dated back to Q1 2015. This means that the figures are not directly comparable with previous publications.