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38097
Soaring oil prices led to increased surplus
statistikk
2005-04-15T10:00:00.000Z
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
false

External trade in goods, March 2005

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Soaring oil prices led to increased surplus

Norway's import of traditional goods reached NOK 28.1 billion in March. Total exports amounted to NOK 52 billion. The trade surplus was NOK 24.1 billion, almost NOK 7 billion higher than in March 2004. There is a continued strong growth in imports from China, but imports from Sweden show a decline.

The export value of crude oil reached NOK 23.1 billion in March. The crude oil price of NOK 329 is the highest level ever. The average price per barrel rose by NOK 40 from February to March 2005.

External Trade in Goods, excl. Ships and Oil Platforms. NOK Million
  January-March Change in per cent March Change in per cent
  2004 2005 2004 2005
1 Imports 76 106     78 978 3.8      30 415       28 075 -7.7
2 Exports  132 557  146 058 10.2 47 401 52 217 10.2
Of which            
Crude oil 54 649 63 146 15.5 18 438 23 140 25.5
Natural gas 19 843 20 949 5.6 6 740 6 943 3.0
Condensates 2 508 2 579 2.9  800  679 -15.2
3 Exports excl. crude oil, natural gas and condensates 55 557 59 384 6.9 21 422 21 455 0.2
4 Trade balance (2-1) 56 451 67 081 18.8 16 986 24 142 42.1
5 Trade balance excl. oil, natural gas and condensates (3-1) -20 549 -19 594 . -8 993 -6 620 .

Imports of traditional goods do not include ships and oil platforms. Exports of traditional goods do not include crude oil, natural gas and condensates, ships and oil platforms.

Seasonally adjusted figures

Seasonally adjusted figures for exports of traditional goods show a 2.7 per cent increase over the last three months compared with figures from October to December last year. The value of exports increased slightly less from February to March, by 2.1 per cent. Similar figures for traditional imports for the last three months show a 1.9 per cent increase compared with the October-December period. The import growth from February to March 2005 remained unchanged.

Jump in exports of iron, steel and fish

Exports of traditional goods increased by NOK 3.8 billion, or 6.9 per cent, compared with the first quarter last year.

Iron and steel exports rose during all of the first three months this year. The increase from February to March amounted to NOK 350 million. One of the main reasons for this is increased exports of pipes to Great Britain. Exports of other metals have decreased slightly during the same period and is NOK 350 million lower than in March last year.

Exports of fish rose by more than NOK 621 million, or 9.6 per cent, compared with the first quarter of 2004. Russia is becoming an increasingly important market for exports of fish from Norway. The increase from the first quarter of 2004 to the first quarter of 2005 is NOK 451 million, or 44 100 tonnes.

Exports of electricity of NOK 930 million has almost quadrupled compared with the same period in 2004.

Petroleum products show a decline of NOK 357 million in this period, due to reduced exports to the Netherlands and Great Britain. The decline was particularly high in March 2005.

Imports

The total growth in traditional imports was almost NOK 2.9 billion from the first quarter of 2004 to the first quarter of 2005.

Imports of cars rose by NOK 500 million and imports of raw materials by NOK 720 million, of which metalliferous ores, metal scrap and wood were the biggest contributors.

Iron and steel imports, mainly pipes from Japan and Germany, rose by NOK 1.6 billion compared with the first quarter of 2004. Among other metals, unwrought aluminium contributed to an increase of NOK 500 million comparing the first quarters in 2004 and 2005.

Imports of electricity dropped to less than a fourth compared with the same period in 2004.

Higher increase in imports from Asia than Europe and North America

During the first quarter of 2005 imports from Europe and North America rose by NOK 758 and 688 million respectively. Imports from Sweden decreased by NOK 745 million, caused by lowered imports of electricity by NOK 400 million, electrical machinery and apparatus by NOK 180 million and prefabricated buildings by NOK 300 million.

Imports from Canada increased by NOK 52 million, while imports from the USA remained at approximately the same level as in 2004.

Imports from Asia climbed by NOK 1.1 billion. The growth is distributed between China with NOK 630 million, Japan with NOK 355 million and South Korea with NOK 110 million. There has been a strong increase in imports of clothing and electrical equipment from China. The table below shows the figures for the first quarter of 2004 and 2005.

Imports from China. (Figures were corrected 15 April at 1420)
  1. Quarter 2004 2. Quarter 2005 Change in per cent
  Value
(in NOK million ) 		Quantity
(in 1 000) 		Value
(in NOK million ) 		Quantity
(in 1 000) 		Value Quantity
Colour TV 12.6 7.4       26.9             18.4        114.3        148.6
Cell phones 62.0 52.1 168.2 136.7 171.4 162.4
Ladies' coats 26.1  299.3 42.1 528.8 61.4 76.7
Sweaters 125.9 2 721.7 150.6 3 563,0 19.6 30.9
T-shirts 68.1 3 103.8 80.7 3730.2 18.5 20.2

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