June Exports Show 5% Decline
The nation's export volumes were down 5 percent in June compared with the same month of last year, reflecting a far larger summer dip than was seen in 2012.
June exports reached 974 million euros while imports were level with last year's results, coming in at 1.15 billion euros, according to Statistics Estonia.
The year-on-year export decrease was mainly due to a 32 percent drop in dispatches of mineral fuels (including electricity) and a 7 percent decline in machinery and equipment exports. The change was offset somewhat by higher exports of wood and wood products, up 10 percent compared with a year earlier.
Overall, the first six months of the year were not too different from the first half of last year, with exports up by 2 percent and imports by 3 percent.
Exports typically drop from May to June, but this year's summer dip of 130 million euros eclipsed last year's relatively modest 13 million decline. With imports holding steady, the trade deficit was pushed to 173 million euros, the highest it has been since December.
Estonia's largest share of exports in June were machinery and equipment (29 percent of the total), followed by mineral fuels (10 percent), and agricultural products and food preparations (9 percent).
For imports, the same categories took the top three spots, though in different order. Machinery and equipment accounted for 30 percent of the total, followed by mineral fuels at 14 percent and agricultural products and food preparations at 11 percent.