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280927
Lowest trade surplus in 17 years
statistikk
2017-01-16T08:00:00.000Z
External economy
en
muh, External trade in goods, import, export, balance of trade (export minus import), mainland exports, imports excluding ships and oil platforms, trade ( between countries, continents and trade regions), international product groups (for example hs, sitc and bec), product groups (for example food, crude oil and metals)External trade , External economy
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The external trade statistics describe the development in Norwegian foreign trade, measured in value and quantity. They give information about total figures as well as by country.

External trade in goods, 2016, preliminary figures

Variants of the statistics:

Content

Published:

Lowest trade surplus in 17 years

Total exports of goods amounted to NOK 747 billion in 2016 and went down by 10.6 per cent compared to 2015. This was mainly due to lower oil and gas prices and weakened mainland exports. Trade surplus fell by 36.3 per cent and was at the lowest level since 1999.

External trade in goodsPublished 16 January 2017
NOK MillionShare in per centChange in per cent
201620162015 - 2016
Imports606 697100.0-1.5
Ships and oil platforms16 3992.7-39.2
 
Exports747 135100.0-10.6
Crude oil185 77124.9-5.8
Natural gas160 22221.4-27.4
Natural gas condensates3 8220.5-25.9
Ships and oil platforms10 3401.415.7
Mainland exports386 98051.8-4.3
 
The trade balance140 437.-36.3
The mainland trade balance-203 318.-10.2

Source: Statistics Norway

Income from mainland exports went down by 4.3 per cent from 2015, ending at NOK 387.0 in 2016.

Much of the reduction is due to a fall in exports of industrial machines, where a large proportion goes to oil and gas-related activities abroad. Lower exports of refined petroleum products also contributed. Fish exports pulled in the opposite direction, with prices rising and leading to record high export values in 2016.

Imports totalled NOK 607 billion and dropped 1.5 per cent from 2015. If trade with oil platforms is excluded, imports increased by 1.5 per cent.

Trade surplus in 2016 ended at NOK 140.4 billion and was further reduced, a decrease of 36.3 per cent compared to 2015.

Lower oil and gas prices

Natural gas exports amounted to NOK 160.2 billion in 2016, which was 27.4 per cent down from 2015. Prices of natural gas in a gaseous state fell by 27.5 per cent, while export volumes were 109.8 billion standard cubic metres, the same level as 2015.

Exports of crude oil dropped by 5.8 per cent and ended at NOK 185.8 billion in 2016. This was due to lower oil prices. The annual average price ended at NOK 363 per barrel and was down 12.4 per cent from 2015. Export volumes rose by 7.5 per cent and reached 512 million barrels in 2016.

Other significant changes

  • Exports of industrial machineries amounted to NOK 40.9 billion in 2016 and fell by 24.5 per cent from 2015.
  • Exports of refined petroleum products ended at NOK 27.2 billion, which was 33.5 per cent down from 2015.
  • Fish exports reached NOK 89.2 billion in 2016, up 23.9 per cent from 2015.
  • Imports of road vehicles were NOK 69.3 billion and rose 10.5 per cent compared to 2015.
  • Imports of industrial machines totalled NOK 67.5 billion in 2016, which was down 6.6 per cent compared to 2015.