Exports of goods fell by 11 percent year-on-year in January. The decline in imports was even more significant at 13 percent. The decline in exports to the member states of the European Union was especially sharp.

"Across Europe, demand is very low, we are still feeling the effects of the war [in Ukraine] and there is general uncertainty," Mari Rell, economist at Eesti Pank, said.

Exports of mineral products, metal products, and wood and wood products fell the most in January.

"It started in May last year, when we started planning for the holidays and there was a risk that we would have to extend them by force. The trend in incoming work was such that we had to make contingency plans for the fall, which we did," Veljo Konnimois, founder of Radius Machining, said.

In the meantime, Konnimois said, they are working four days a week and are looking for new markets to get out of the slump, but it will take time.

"We ourselves had hoped to find new customers quickly in Central Europe, but it takes a little longer to find them," he said.

"The sectors themselves are also actively looking for alternatives to Scandinavia and the Baltic States. The wood construction sector today has marked Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK, and France, and the metal sector is seen as most dependent on the German market. Most of them will take a year or two to reach agreements, you can't see the numbers today, but the markets are coming fast," said Andres Kikas, head of export at EAS-Kredex.

The situation is slightly better in the services sector, which is mainly driven by ICT and tourism.

"On the services side, the picture is better, our services exports support the whole economy, and this was also the case at the end of last year," Rell said.

According to Rell, exports of goods are also expected to improve in the second half of the year as demand picks up.

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