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Foreign trade in services Q2 2020

Sharp decline in foreign trade in services in the second quarter 2020

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-09-07 9.30

The coronavirus pandemic has affected foreign trade in services, and both exports and imports of services fell sharply in the second quarter 2020. Exports decreased by 17 percent and imports decreased by 18 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

Strengthened net balance

Exports of services fell by 17 percent and imports of services fell by 18 percent in the second quarter 2020. This can be compared with the second quarter 2019, in which exports rose by 16 percent and imports rose by 17 percent.

In the second quarter 2020, the value of Sweden’s exports of services amounted to SEK 143 billion. Imports of services amounted to SEK 144 billion, which results in a negative net balance of SEK -0.8 billion. The net balance was strengthened compared with SEK -3.1 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

Significant decline in travel

Trade decreased in several service types during the quarter. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic is clearly visible in the travel service type, in which exports fell by 73 percent and imports decreased by 81 percent. In the same quarter a year ago, travel accounted for 13 percent of total exports of services and 20 percent of imports of services. In the second quarter 2020, these proportions had declined to 4 percent of exports and 5 percent of imports.

Transport, air transport in particular, was also significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Exports of air transport fell by 77 percent and imports also fell by 77 percent compared with the second quarter 2019. Other transports were not affected to the same extent and developments are less extreme.

On the export side, fees for use of intellectual property fell by 17 percent, while other business services (including research and development services, administrative services and marketing services) fell by 9 percent. Telecommunications, data and information services fell by 4 percent.

On the other hand, on the import side, fees for use of intellectual property rose by 45 percent. Telecommunications, data and information services rose by 9 percent, and other business services rose by 1 percent.

Exports and imports, by service item Q1 2020
  Exports Imports
      Share in % Change in %     Share in % Change in %
  2020Q2 2019Q2 2020Q2 2020Q2/2019Q2 2020Q2 2019Q2 2020Q2 2020Q2/2019Q2
Total 143 483 173 176 100.0 ‑17.1 144 290 176 253 100.0 ‑18.1
Manufacturing services 2 931 3 629 2.0 ‑19.2 2 995 4 118 2.1 ‑27.3
Maintenance and repair services 674 1 106 0.5 ‑39.1 823 1 066 0.6 ‑22.8
Transport 17 635 23 949 12.3 ‑26.4 20 182 29 594 14.0 ‑31.8
Travel 6 018 22 057 4.2 ‑72.7 6 659 34 386 4.6 ‑80.6
Construction 1 364 1 584 1.0 ‑13.9 3 283 4 659 2.3 ‑29.5
Insurance and pension services 2 658 1 751 1.9 51.8 1 788 1 972 1.2 ‑9.3
Financial services 8 394 8 041 5.9 4.4 4 419 4 608 3.1 ‑4.1
Charges for the use of intellectual property 17 110 20 564 11.9 ‑16.8 21 452 14 842 14.9 44.5
Telecommunications, computer, and information services 31 497 32 932 22.0 ‑4.4 23 764 21 717 16.5 9.4
Other business services 41 329 45 622 28.8 ‑9.4 55 992 55 478 38.8 0.9
Personal, cultural, and recreational services 12 727 10 773 8.9 18.1 2 372 3 197 1.6 ‑25.8
Government goods and services 1 147 1 168 0.8 ‑1.8 559 616 0.4 ‑9.3

Revisions

Quarter 1 2020 has been revised.

Definitions and explanations

What is foreign trade in services?

The statistics on foreign trade in services is a presentation of all Swedish transactions related to trade in services with the rest of the world. These statistics are reported quarterly and form the basis for both the National Accounts and the current account in Balance of Payments. The section More information contains an explanation on how trade in services in the National Accounts and the Balance of Payments sometimes differ from this statistic.

Next publishing will be

2020-12-07 09:30.

Statistical Database

More information is available in the Statistical Database

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