Decline in external trade in services

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Exports of services from Norwegian non-financial enterprises amounted to NOK 50.5 billion in the 1st quarter of 2017. This was a decrease of 7 per cent compared to the 1st quarter of 2016. Imports of services ended at NOK 55.6 billion, which was a decrease of 7.3 per cent.

Exports of services

  • The transport and storage industry is still the main contributor to Norwegian service exports, with a share of 48.5 per cent of total exports, amounting to NOK 24.5 billion. This was a decrease of 7.8 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2016.
  • Exports of services related to sea and coastal water transport amounted to NOK 19.1 billion, a decline of 5.3 per cent from the 1st quarter of 2016.
  • The non-Nordic EU countries are still the most important market for exports of services from Norwegian non-financial enterprises. In the 1st quarter of 2017, services amounting to NOK 16.4 billion were exported to these countries, equal to 32.5 per cent of total exports of services.

Imports of services

  • Enterprises within the transport and storage industry are also the main contributors when it comes to import of services. The share of total imports ended at 29.2 per cent, equal to NOK 16.2 billion. The mining and quarrying industry imported services for NOK 12.8, equal to 23 per cent of total imports of services.
  • Business services was the largest group of services imported by Norwegian non-financial enterprises in the 1st quarter of 2017. This accounted for NOK 11.5 billion, equal to a share of 20.7 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 per cent of the total value of imports of services, corresponding to NOK 24.6 billion.

Figure 1

External trade in services for non-financial enterprises

Figure 2. Exports of services

Q1-2014 Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
EU except Nordic countries 30.5 32.3 34.2 30.8 30.9 34.4 34.1 33.5 32 33.4 33.3 35.6 32.5
Asia 17.2 20.5 17.8 19.2 18.5 17 17.7 17.7 17.2 15.4 17 12.6 17.1
North and Central America 15.5 17.2 14.4 20.7 15.6 14.7 14.9 16.1 15.4 15.2 16.1 14.2 13.4
Nordic countries 15.3 12.9 15.6 12.6 14.3 14 14.6 15.7 15.5 17.8 16.4 19.2 16.8
Other regions 15 14.7 14.6 15.3 17.3 16.1 16.3 15.7 16.8 15.3 14.8 15.6 14.2

Figure 3. Imports of services

Q1-2014 Q2-2014 Q3-2014 Q4-2014 Q1-2015 Q2-2015 Q3-2015 Q4-2015 Q1-2016 Q2-2016 Q3-2016 Q4-2016 Q1-2017
EU except Nordic countries 41.5 46.6 43.8 45.4 41.7 41 44.9 42.2 41.4 40.5 42.3 41.4 44.3
Asia 10.7 12.7 11.3 12.8 12.4 12.7 11.4 12.7 11 12.4 12.1 13.5 11.4
North and Central America 12.9 10.6 10.7 13.8 15.7 16.3 15 15.5 15.3 18 16.4 15.6 14.1
Nordic countries 23.8 21.8 25.2 20.5 20.9 21 22 22.1 21.9 19.1 20.4 20.5 20.7
Other regions 6.5 5.3 5.8 4.9 6.2 6.1 5.1 7.5 8.5 7.6 7.8 7.6 7.3

External trade in services, Q1 2017

A change has been made in the compilation of service types. The service grouping railway and land transport services was merged with air transport services to a new group of air and land transport services. This applies to Tables 1 and 3, which show foreign trade services for non-financial corporations, by service type. In Statbank table 10192, the changes date back to Q1 2015. This means that the figures are not directly comparable with previous publications.