HELSINKI: January brought no turnaround for the export industry of Finland, indicate the latest preliminary statistics on the foreign trade of goods. Finnish Customs reported on Wednesday that the value of goods exported from Finland fell by ten per cent year-on-year to 3.6 billion euros and that of imports by nine per cent to 3.9 billion euros in January. The balance of trade consequently showed a deficit comparable to that observed a year earlier, of roughly 320 million euros.
Roger Wessman, an economist at Bastiat Consulting, commented on the preliminary statistics on Twitter. “The value of goods exports for January is a new low point in the series of bleak statistics from the past few months,” he wrote. Finnish Customs reported that exports declined in all important export categories in January despite the fact that the decline was mitigated by a major aircraft delivery.
Exports to other member states of the European Union fell by 9 per cent year-on-year and imports from other member states by 8 per cent in January, while exports to third countries dropped by 12 per cent and imports from third countries by 9 per cent, according to Finnish Customs.
