Norwegian exports of weapons, 2002 - 2007
Record exports of weapons
Published:
Norway’s exports of weapons and ammunition amounted to NOK 2.16 billion in 2007. This is an increase of 18 per cent compared with 2006 and the highest level ever recorded.
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- Exports of weapons
More than 40 per cent of Norwegian exports of munitions in 2007 were shipped to the US. Munitions include tanks, weapons and ammunition.
Norway seventh largest exporter
According to figures published in the Comtrade database (the UN database for external trade), Norway was the seventh largest exporter of arms and ammunitions (SITC Rev. 3. group 891) in 2006. Norway’s export accounted for 3.5 per cent of the world’s total export of this commodity group. In comparison, the US, the world’s largest exporter of weapons, accounted for 46 per cent of the total export in 2006 with an export value of approximately USD 3.8 billion or NOK 24 billion. In Europe, only Italy, France and Germany had higher exports of weapons than Norway.
Note that the figures presented in this article are based on reported exports of munitions and do not take into account any incorrect reporting or illegal trade in weapons. This may make it difficult to comment on Norway’s actual position in the world market.
Record level exports
Based on customs declarations, Norwegian exports of military equipment amounted to NOK 2.16 billion in 2007, an increase of 32 per cent from 2002. The most striking observation in this six-year period was the exceptionally high export value in 2003. In this year, the export value was NOK 2.0 billion, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year. From 2003 to 2004, the export value was almost halved and ended at NOK 1.1 billion. This was partly due to a decrease in the export of military equipment to Spain, Canada and Australia.
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, rockets and similar military equipment incl. spare parts | 942 | 916 | 457 | 579 | 549 | 758 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ammunition and parts, except for bolt pistols and tools with or without lead shots and ammunition for air guns | 88 | 134 | 139 | 240 | 178 | 184 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Armed fighting vehicles and parts, HS 87.10 | 193 | 124 | 88 | 48 | 56 | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military weapons and parts for weapons | 403 | 865 | 396 | 677 | 1 035 | 1 196 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All other goods within the delineation | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tanks, arms and ammunition | 1 630 | 2 041 | 1 081 | 1 547 | 1 827 | 2 159 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Per cent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Memo: Proportion of exports of traditional goods, i.e. exports excl. crude oil, natural gas and condensates, ships and mobile oil platforms 1 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | The figures are corrected 12 March 2008 at 11:10 a.m. |
Military weapons make up the largest commodity group
More than half of Norway’s export of munitions fell into the group ‘military weapons and parts for weapons’. Total exports of this commodity group have increased significantly over the past years and ended at almost NOK 1.2 billion in 2007. This is NOK 161 million or approximately 16 per cent higher than in the previous year. This figure is close to three times higher than the equivalent export value in 2002 and more than 30 times higher than in 2001. This strong increase is mainly due to increased exports to the US. In 2007, two thirds of Norwegian exports of this commodity group was shipped to the US and mainly consisted of various weapon parts.
Increased exports to the US
Norwegian exports of munitions to the US more than doubled from 2001 to 2002. Since then, the export value to the US has increased from NOK 304 billion to NOK 937 billion in 2007, accounting for 43 per cent of the Norwegian export of military equipment. Except for the US, the main destination countries for munitions produced in Norway in 2007 were Germany, Poland, Sweden and Finland.
Exports outside NATO and Europe
While total Norwegian exports of military equipment have increased over the past six years, exports to countries outside the NATO alliance have seen a decrease. This is due to a major drop in Norwegian exports of weapons to these countries in 2004. Except for Sweden and Finland, total Norwegian exports to non-NATO countries have fallen by approximately 37 per cent since 2002. These countries include Australia, Thailand and Kuwait, with export values of NOK 91 million, NOK 12 million and NOK 6 million respectively in 2007.
In 2006, ‘military weapons and parts thereof’ were exported to South Africa at a value of NOK 89 million.
Because export of defence material is usually characterised by large and expensive deliveries, there is often a great deal of variation between commodity groups and destination countries from year to year. In addition, the Norwegian export statistics on military equipment are affected by Norwegian investments in military equipment abroad. An example is the substantial rise in Norwegian exports of munitions to Spain after an agreement in 2000 on the construction of frigates in Spain for the Norwegian navy.
Differences between the statistics and figures in the Report to the StortingAs shown in table 2, the total value of exports of tanks, weapons and ammunition in Statistics Norway’s statistics differs somewhat from the export value of defence equipment stated in the Report No. 33 to the Storting (2006 - 2007). As opposed to the definition used by Statistics Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs includes repair trade and trade in services in their export figures for defence equipment, as well as some other commodity groups not included in Statistics Norway’s definition. In addition, the time of recording and errors in customs declarations may have an impact. Exports of defence equipment, tanks, weapons and ammunition |
Delineation of weapons and ammunition
Statistics Norway compiles figures on exports of weapons from customs declarations submitted by exporters. The commodity group ‘tanks, weapons and ammunition’ comprises:
Armoured fighting vehicles and parts for such vehicles, commodity code 8710.0000 (HS 87.10)
Weapons, ammunition and parts, the complete set of national commodity codes is available in the Harmonized System chapter 93
Together these two groups comprise the SITC Rev. 3. group 891 of the UN classification of goods in external trade.
The statistics include reported goods exported from Norway as ordinary sales and exclude goods in repair trade. Equipment exchanged under military agreements and equipment for national military personnel on duty abroad is exempt from declaration and hence excluded from the statistics.
Note that the statistics on Norwegian exports of weapons and ammunition are not suppressed due to confidentiality.
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