Exports and imports of goods, January–March 2019, in current prices and in constant prices
Stronger exports than imports of goods
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2019-05-28 9.30
In the period January–March 2019, Swedish exports of goods increased 11 percent and imports of goods increased 5 percent in current prices compared with the same period last year. Exports of goods increased by 4 percent in volume (value in constant prices) and imports of goods remained unchanged.
In the period January–March 2019, the value of Swedish exports amounted to SEK 383 billion. This is an increase of 11 percent compared with the same period last year. At the same time, imports of goods rose by 5 percent and amounted to SEK 368 billion. This resulted in a net trade surplus of SEK 15 billion. In the same period in 2018, there was a net trade deficit of SEK 4 billion.
Exports of goods increased by 4 percent in volume (value in constant prices), while imports of goods remained unchanged. The difference between current and fixed prices can be explained by higher export and import prices.
Detailed information for January–March 2019 (current prices)
Exports of goods to the United States rose 27 percent
Sweden’s exports of goods to the EU 28 increased by 10 percent, and imports from there rose by 4 percent compared with the same period last year. Exports to the euro countries increased by 10 percent and imports from there increased by 4 percent. Among the EU countries, exports to both Germany and the United Kingdom increased by 7 percent and to Denmark by 15 percent. Imports from Germany rose by 1 percent, from United Kingdom by 8 percent, while imports from Denmark decreased by 2 percent.
Exports to other European countries rose by 10 percent and imports from there rose by 1 percent. Exports to Norway rose by 16 percent, and imports from there increased by 8 percent. Exports to Russia increased by 1 percent while imports from there decreased by 17 percent.
Exports to Asia decreased by 2 percent, while imports from there increased by 22 percent. Exports to China decreased by 7 percent, while imports from there increased by 36 percent.
Exports to the United States increased by 27 percent, and imports from there increased by 7 percent.
Exports of pharmaceutical products rose 27 percent
Exports of machinery and transport equipment increased by 9 percent. Within this product area, exports of passenger cars increased by 12 percent. Exports of minerals increased by 15 percent. Exports of wood and paper products rose by 10 percent and mineral fuels and electric current rose by 1 percent. Exports of chemicals and rubber products increased by 19 percent. Within this product area, exports of pharmaceutical products increased by 27 percent. Within the other products area, food, beverages and tobacco increased by 6 percent.
Imports of passenger cars decreased 10 percent
Imports of machinery and transport equipment increased by 3 percent. Within this product area, electronics/telecommunication rose by 6 percent, while passenger cars fell by 10 percent. Imports of minerals rose by 3 percent. Imports of wood and paper products rose by 7 percent and chemicals and rubber products rose by 10 percent. Imports of mineral fuels and electric current increased by 1 percent and imports of other products increased by 9 percent.
Detailed information in volume (value in constant prices) in the first quarter 2019
Export volume of iron and steel increased 15 percent
Exports of goods increased by 4 percent in volume in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Exports of machinery and transport equipment increased by 4 percent in volume. Within this product area, exports of industrial machinery and passenger cars increased by 5 percent each. The export volume of mineral fuels and electric current decreased by 10 percent while minerals increased in export volume by 6 percent. Within the latter product area, iron and steel increased by 15 percent. Chemical and rubber products increased by 12 percent in volume. Within this product area, exports of pharmaceutical products increased by 21 percent. Exports of wood and paper products remained unchanged in volume. Within the other products area, exports of furniture increased by 12 percent while food, beverages and tobacco decreased by 1 percent.
Import volume of crude petroleum oils decreased 10 percent
Imports of goods remained unchanged in volume in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Imports of machinery and transport equipment decreased by 1 percent in volume. Within this product area, imports of passenger cars decreased by 12 percent. The import volume of mineral fuels and electric current decreased by 7 percent. Within this product area, imports of crude petroleum oils decreased by 10 percent. With regard to chemical and rubber products, the import volume increased by 7 percent. Within this product area, pharmaceutical products increased by 27 percent. Imports of wood and paper products decreased by 1 percent and minerals decreased by 2 percent in volume. Within the other products area, the imports of textiles, clothing and footwear increased by 9 percent in volume.
| Exports | Imports | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value (current prices) | Value (current prices) | ||||||||
| Region | January-March | Share in % | Change in % | January-March | Share in % | Change in % | |||
| 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2019/2018 | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2019/2018 | ||
| Total | 382 599 | 345 832 | 100.0 | 11 | 368 476 | 349 927 | 100.0 | 5 | |
| Europe | 281 049 | 255 436 | 73.5 | 10 | 307 275 | 297 081 | 83.4 | 3 | |
| EU-28 | 227 190 | 206 673 | 59.4 | 10 | 261 609 | 251 946 | 71.0 | 4 | |
| EMU-19 | 158 638 | 144 524 | 41.5 | 10 | 190 763 | 184 113 | 51.8 | 4 | |
| Other European countries | 53 859 | 48 763 | 14.1 | 10 | 45 665 | 45 135 | 12.4 | 1 | |
| Africa | 8 063 | 6 166 | 2.1 | 31 | 5 247 | 5 722 | 1.4 | ‑8 | |
| North Africa | 4 130 | 3 013 | 1.1 | 37 | 423 | 1 622 | 0.1 | ‑74 | |
| West Africa | 856 | 628 | 0.2 | 36 | 4 168 | 3 192 | 1.1 | 31 | |
| Central, East and Southern Africa | 3 078 | 2 526 | 0.8 | 22 | 656 | 907 | 0.2 | ‑28 | |
| America | 40 585 | 32 241 | 10.6 | 26 | 13 614 | 12 672 | 3.7 | 7 | |
| North America | 32 378 | 25 817 | 8.5 | 25 | 9 841 | 9 331 | 2.7 | 5 | |
| Central and South America | 8 206 | 6 424 | 2.1 | 28 | 3 773 | 3 341 | 1.0 | 13 | |
| Asia | 45 106 | 45 920 | 11.8 | ‑2 | 41 634 | 34 179 | 11.3 | 22 | |
| Middle- and Near East | 5 979 | 7 203 | 1.6 | ‑17 | 1 675 | 2 097 | 0.5 | ‑20 | |
| Other countries in Asia | 39 127 | 38 717 | 10.2 | 1 | 39 959 | 32 082 | 10.8 | 25 | |
| Oceania and Antarctica | 4 416 | 5 339 | 1.2 | ‑17 | 707 | 272 | 0.2 | 160 | |
| Exports | Exports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value (current prices) | Volume (value in constant prices) | ||||
| January-March | Share in % | Change in % | Change in % | ||
| Commodity group according to SITC | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2019/2018 | Q1 2019/Q1 2018 |
| Total | 382 599 | 345 832 | 100.0 | 11 | 4 |
| Wood and paper products | 39 018 | 35 461 | 10.2 | 10 | 0 |
| Wood | 8 233 | 7 702 | 2.2 | 7 | ‑1 |
| Pulp and waste paper | 6 683 | 5 702 | 1.7 | 17 | 4 |
| Paper, paperproducts | 22 350 | 20 480 | 5.8 | 9 | ‑1 |
| Minerals | 41 649 | 36 276 | 10.9 | 15 | 6 |
| Iron ore and concentrates | 5 741 | 4 703 | 1.5 | 22 | ‑4 |
| Iron and steel | 21 030 | 16 492 | 5.5 | 28 | 15 |
| Non-ferrous metals | 6 883 | 7 371 | 1.8 | ‑7 | ‑6 |
| Chemicals, rubber products | 54 800 | 46 156 | 14.3 | 19 | 12 |
| Organic/inorganic chemicals | 5 051 | 4 758 | 1.3 | 6 | ‑1 |
| Pharmaceuticals products | 27 172 | 21 338 | 7.1 | 27 | 21 |
| Plastics | 9 089 | 8 300 | 2.4 | 10 | 7 |
| Mineral fuels, electric current | 24 979 | 24 825 | 6.5 | 1 | ‑10 |
| Petroleum products | 20 368 | 21 056 | 5.3 | ‑3 | ‑12 |
| Machinery, transport equipment | 173 559 | 159 206 | 45.4 | 9 | 4 |
| Manufactures of metals | 10 522 | 9 275 | 2.8 | 13 | 7 |
| Industrial machinery | 58 333 | 52 557 | 15.2 | 11 | 5 |
| Electronics, telecommunication | 35 395 | 33 783 | 9.3 | 5 | 4 |
| Road vehicles | 58 409 | 54 369 | 15.3 | 7 | 2 |
| Passenger cars | 27 957 | 25 042 | 7.3 | 12 | 5 |
| Lorries, trucks[1] | 8 626 | 8 896 | 2.3 | ‑3 | ‑9 |
| Parts, accessories | 17 642 | 16 894 | 4.6 | 4 | 1 |
| Other transport equipment | 2 780 | 1 634 | 0.7 | 70 | 56 |
| Instruments, photo/optical products | 8 120 | 7 588 | 2.1 | 7 | ‑2 |
| Other products | 48 595 | 43 907 | 12.7 | 11 | 5 |
| Food, beverages, tobacco | 22 410 | 21 113 | 5.9 | 6 | ‑1 |
| Textiles, clothing, footwear | 9 169 | 7 839 | 2.4 | 17 | 7 |
| Furniture | 4 978 | 4 500 | 1.3 | 11 | 12 |
| Imports | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value (current prices) | Volume (value in constant prices) | |||||
| January-March | Share in % | Change in % | Change in % | |||
| Commodity group according to SITC | 2019 | 2018 | 2019 | 2019/2018 | Q1 2019/Q1 2018 | |
| Total | 368 476 | 349 927 | 100.0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Wood and paper products | 10 951 | 10 191 | 3.0 | 7 | ‑1 | |
| Minerals | 29 666 | 28 771 | 8.1 | 3 | ‑2 | |
| Iron and steel | 13 822 | 14 423 | 3.8 | ‑4 | ‑9 | |
| Non-ferrous metals | 5 633 | 5 333 | 1.5 | 6 | 3 | |
| Metalliferrous ores, metal scrap | 4 073 | 3 460 | 1.1 | 18 | 15 | |
| Chemicals, rubber products | 46 819 | 42 610 | 12.7 | 10 | 7 | |
| Organic/inorganic chemicals | 9 648 | 9 627 | 2.6 | 0 | ‑3 | |
| Pharmaceuticals products | 12 159 | 9 809 | 3.3 | 24 | 27 | |
| Plastics | 9 309 | 8 787 | 2.5 | 6 | 3 | |
| Crude rubber, rubber products | 4 478 | 4 335 | 1.2 | 3 | ‑2 | |
| Mineral fuels, electric current | 38 188 | 37 807 | 10.4 | 1 | ‑7 | |
| Crude petroleum oils | 18 553 | 19 448 | 5.0 | ‑5 | ‑10 | |
| Petroleum products | 15 623 | 14 521 | 4.2 | 8 | ‑2 | |
| Machinery, transport equipment | 160 180 | 154 971 | 43.5 | 3 | ‑1 | |
| Manufactures of metals | 12 107 | 10 723 | 3.3 | 13 | 8 | |
| Industrial machinery | 39 458 | 36 753 | 10.7 | 7 | 2 | |
| Electronics, telecommunication | 54 659 | 51 625 | 14.8 | 6 | 2 | |
| Road vehicles | 42 029 | 43 683 | 11.4 | ‑4 | ‑7 | |
| Passenger cars | 18 058 | 20 087 | 4.9 | ‑10 | ‑12 | |
| Parts and accessories | 16 832 | 16 231 | 4.6 | 4 | ‑1 | |
| Other transport equipment | 3 108 | 3 804 | 0.8 | ‑18 | ‑24 | |
| Instruments, photo/optical equip | 8 819 | 8 384 | 2.4 | 5 | 2 | |
| Other products | 82 672 | 75 576 | 22.4 | 9 | 4 | |
| Food, beverages, tobacco | 39 660 | 36 619 | 10.8 | 8 | 3 | |
| Textiles, clothing, footwear | 20 553 | 17 744 | 5.6 | 16 | 9 | |
| Furniture | 6 399 | 5 946 | 1.7 | 8 | 2 | |
Definitions and explanations
The volume changes (value changes in constant prices) are calculated quarterly. In the quarterly calculation of the volume changes of goods, exports and imports of goods, the current quarter, calculated as the full-year level, are first compared with the previous full year. For each commodity according to CN8, the value of the quarter is calculated in the previous year’s average price by dividing the value of the quarter in current prices with the price trend between the periods. In the next step, the index numbers are calculated in a chain index series with the base year 2015 (2015 = 100). The volume and value index for the current period compared with the previous full year is linked to the corresponding index for the previous full years back to 2015.
Publication
This report is published in more detail in the statistical report:
Foreign trade – Exports and imports of goods January–March 2019 (pdf)
Next publishing will be
2019-08-27 at 09:30.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.