In the third quarter the biggest increase was seen in the exports of travel services, up by €61 million. Photo: Unsplash
According to Statistics Estonia and Eesti Pank, in the third quarter of 2024, Estonia’s exports of services grew by 8% and imports by 2%. Exports of services totalled €3.2 billion and imports of services €2.4 billion at current prices. The balance of foreign trade in services was in surplus by €751 million, which is €180 million more than a year earlier.
Jane Leppmets, a foreign trade analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that growth in foreign trade in services was most affected by travel services and other business services. “In the third quarter, exports of services to EU countries increased by 8% and imports from EU countries by 4%. Extra-EU exports of services were also up by 8%, however, extra-EU imports were down by 4%. The latter was mainly affected by a decline in purchases of services from the United States,” Leppmets pointed out.
The most exported services in the third quarter were other business services (incl. other business support services, advertising and management services), worth €860 million. This was followed by exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (incl. computer programming and consultancy) for €750 million, and exports of transport services (incl. road freight transport) to non-residents for €688 million.
Compared with the third quarter of last year, the biggest increase was seen in the exports of travel services (up by €61 million), other business services (up by €60 million), and telecommunications, computer and information services (up by €60 million). The biggest fall occurred in the exports of construction services – down by €34 million.
Source: Statistics Estonia
Estonia’s top export partner was Finland (16% of total exports), followed by Germany (9%), the United States (7%) and Sweden (7%). The main services supplied to Finland were travel services. Transport services were the most exported service to Germany and Sweden, and telecommunications, computer and information services were the biggest export item to the United States.
The biggest rise was recorded in exports of services to Germany (up by €50 million, or 22%) and to the United Kingdom (up by €29 million, or 17%). Year on year, there were greater exports of transport services to Germany and telecommunications, computer and information services to the United Kingdom. The biggest fall (by €8 million, or 11%) was registered in exports of services to Ireland due to decreased sales of other business services.
Services import came mainly from Germany
The main services imported to Estonia in the third quarter were other business services (incl. other business support services, advertising and management services) for €688 million and transport services (incl. road and sea freight transport) for €638 million. Compared with the third quarter of 2023, the biggest rise occurred in the purchases of travel services (up by €33 million), other business services (up by €21 million) and transport services (up by €10 million) from non-residents. The imports of telecommunications, computer and information services declined the most year on year – by €14 million.
The main partner countries for imports of services in the third quarter were Germany (8% of Estonia’s total imports), Finland (8%), Lithuania (7%) and Latvia (7%). Transport services were the main type of service purchased from these countries. The biggest rise was recorded in imports of services from Poland (up by €15 million, or 17%), Germany (up by €13 million, or 7%) and Bulgaria (up by €13 million, or 93%).
Year on year, there were more purchases of telecommunications, computer and information services from Poland and greater imports of other business services from Germany and transport services from Bulgaria. The biggest decline occurred in imports of services from Lithuania (down by €18 million, or 10%) and the United States (down by €18 million, or 15%), with fewer purchases of telecommunications, computer and information services.
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