HELSINKI: Finland generated roughly 5.5 billion euros worth of exports in May, according to preliminary data released by Finnish Customs.
The monthly value represents a 27 per cent increase from the previous year and brings the cumulative increase for the first five months of the year to 18 per cent. The value of imports to the country, meanwhile, rose by 16 per cent to almost 5.3 billion euros in May, the preliminary data indicate.
Finnish Customs on Friday approximated that the trade balance showed a surplus of 290 million euros in May and a deficit of 750 million euros between January and May, 2017.
Both of the figures signal a substantial improvement from the previous year, as the balance showed a deficit of 175 million euros in May and one of almost 1.4 billion euros between January and May, 2016.
The spike in the value of exports is attributable mainly to ship and aircraft deliveries that took place in May, even though increases were recorded also in the exports of metal, forest, transport, and electric and electronics industry products.
Imports, in turn, increased across all major import categories with the sole exception of pharmaceutical products.
Finland in May recorded a year-on-year increase of 32 per cent in exports to other member states and one of 19 per cent to non-member states of the European Union, according to the preliminary data. Its imports crept up by 10 per cent from other member states and by 25 per cent from third countries.
Finnish Customs also highlights that exports to all key trading partners increased or, at least, stayed at the level of the previous year in May. Exports, it says, grew especially to Germany, the United States and the Netherlands but also to Russia and China. Imports, in turn, increased especially from Russia, Poland and China but also from Sweden and Germany.
Decreases were recorded in the value of imports from both the United Kingdom and the United States.
