External trade in goods, indices of volume and price, Q3 2000

The volume of exports excluding ships and oil platforms increased by 7.2 per cent and the volume of traditional goods by 3.8 per cent.

Adjusted for seasonality, there was an increase in the export volume of 3.5 per cent from the second to the third quarter this year and a modest increase of 0.5 per cent in the exports of traditional goods. The seasonally adjusted index for the volume of imports shows a decline of 1.0 per cent from the second quarter.

The substantial 35.5 per cent increase in the price index for exports in the last quarter is yet again caused by high prices in the exports of fuels especially crude oil and metals. Fuels and metals exclusive of iron increased by 58.7 and 19.4 per cent, respectively. The average export price for aluminium increased by 21.9 per cent and for iron and steel by 11.1 per cent.

There was an increase in the Norwegian terms of trade of 27.0 per cent, as measured by the ratio between the export and import price indices for the third quarter of 1999 and 2000. For the external trade in traditional goods there was an increase of 2.8 per cent.

The figures are exclusive of ships and mobile oil platforms, the same as traditional goods on the import side. For exports, traditional goods are also exclusive of crude oil and natural gas.

Please see table below. For further tables, please see Monthly Bulletin of External Trade, tables 2, 5, 6 and 7: http://www.ssb.no/muh_en/

Tables:

• Table 1 External trade in commodities excl. ships and oil platforms. Indices of price and volume. 3rd quarter 2000