Exports of services grew by 32 percent and imports by 33 percent year on year.

Services totaled €2.8 billion and imports €2.2 billion. The balance of foreign trade in services was in surplus by €568 million, which is €129 million more than in the same quarter last year.

Jane Leppmets, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said foreign trade in services was primarily boosted by the increased exports and imports of travel services and other business services.

"In the third quarter, there was increased trade in services with almost all our main foreign trade partners. The exceptions were Germany, from where Estonia imported fewer services, and Russia, due to the fall in both the supply and purchases of services for the second quarter running," he said.

Exports

The most exported services were other business services (incl. advertising services, business and management consulting and public relations services), transport services (incl. road and sea freight transport), and telecommunications, computer and information services.

Compared with the third quarter of 2021, the biggest increase occurred in the exports of travel services (up by €218 million), followed by exports of other business services (up by €206 million) and exports of telecommunications, computer and information services (up by €143 million).

In the third quarter of 2022, Finland was the top partner country for exports of services. The main services supplied to Finland were travel services and transport services.

Finland was followed by Sweden, with transport services being the biggest export item, and the USA, where Estonian enterprises exported primarily telecommunications, computer and information services.

The biggest increase occurred in exports to Finland which grew by €150 million, mainly due to greater exports of travel services.

Imports

The main services imported to Estonia in the third quarter were transport services (incl. sea freight transport), other business services (incl. advertising services, business and management consulting and public relations services) and travel services (incl. other business travel).

Compared with the third quarter of 2021, the biggest rise occurred in the imports of the same three groups.

The imports of other business services grew by €302 million, the imports of travel services by €174 million and the imports of transport services by €100 million.

The biggest decline was recorded in the imports of telecommunications, computer and information services (down by €43 million).

In the third quarter, the top partner country for imports of services was Finland which mainly supplied transport and travel services to Estonia, followed by Germany and Latvia.

In the third quarter, the biggest rise was recorded in imports of services from Luxembourg (up by €63 million), Finland (up by €56 million) and Ireland (up by €43 million).

There were greater imports of other business services from Luxembourg and Ireland, and more purchases of travel and transport services from Finland.

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