External trade in goods, November 2009

It was the 7.4 per cent decline in imports that mainly contributed to the increase in the trade surplus. In contrast, the decline in the trade surplus compared to November last year can be explained chiefly by the high value of natural gas exports at that time. The exports, including natural gas, crude oil and condensates, declined by 15.3 per cent, while the fall was only 2.4 per cent when these goods were excluded.

Increased volume of natural gas exports

The value of the export of natural gas increased by 11.4 per cent compared to last month, but was NOK 12 billion lower than November last year, which was also the second highest value of natural gas exports ever. For natural gas in gaseous state, however, the volume of exports increased by 13 million cubic metres from the 8.7 billion cubic metres recorded in the same month last year and 892 million cubic metres since October.

Small changes in the export value of crude oil

The value of crude oil exports showed a small decline by NOK 448 million from October, despite an increase in the mean price per barrel by NOK 22 to NOK 437. The value increased by 4.9 per cent compared to November last year. The number of exported barrels ended at 54.1 million, which is a decline by 3.9 million and 4.9 million compared to last month and the same month last year respectively.

Cars moderate decline in imports

The import value of goods excluding ships and oil platforms for November came to NOK 35.6 billion. This is down 8.4 per cent since the same month last year and 7.4 per cent compared to October this year. Nevertheless, road vehicles showed an increase of NOK 584 million from November last year.. Of this, passenger motor vehicles (cars) except buses increased by NOK 128 million from last month and by NOK 1 billion from last November and came to NOK 2.4 billion for this month. The value of imported cars has not been as high since November 2007. The car import from Germany, which represents almost half of the number of cars imported to Norway, has only once before been higher than the 7 638 imported in November. Another group that showed growth was medicinal and pharmaceutical products, which came to NOK 1 billion; an increase of NOK 301 million compared to last November.

Iron and steel and general industrial machinery and equipment declined by NOK 502 million and NOK 727 million compared to the same month last year respectively. In addition, the import value of other transport equipment was NOK 582 million lower for the same period.

Small downturn in exports

Exports excluding crude oil, natural gas, condensates, ships and oil platforms came to NOK 27.7 billion in November. This is a small decline by NOK 682 million compared to the same month last year. Liquefied propane and butanes rose by NOK 1.5 billion to NOK 2.1 billion compared to a year ago.

The largest decline from last year was observed in the groups consisting of general industrial machinery and equipment in addition to iron and steel, which fell by NOK 593 million and NOK 523 million respectively. The export of manufactured fertilizers ended at NOK 273 million compared to NOK 859 million last year. The magnitude of this drop can be partly explained by the export value of manufactured fertilizers, which was at the highest level ever at the end of last year.

Tables:

• Table 1 Imports of commodities, ships and oil platforms excluded. November and January-November 2008 and 2009. Preliminary figures. NOK million
• Table 2 Exports of commodities, ships and oil platforms excluded. November and January-November 2008 and 2009. Preliminary figures. NOK million
• Table 3 Trade with countries and regional groups of countries. January-November 2008 and 2009. Preliminary figures. NOK million