Exports amounted to €17.4 billion and imports to €20.7 billion over the same period.

The trade deficit rose to €3.3 billion, a rise of €275 million over that period.

On year to December 2024, i.e., comparing December 2023 with December last year, exports rose by 2 percent and imports by 9 percent, the agency said.

Jane Leppmets, foreign trade analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted a sharp fall in trade during the first quarter of last year, as exports were down by 16 percent and imports by 11 percent.

She said: "In the third quarter, imports were unchanged, plus with a slight uptick in exports."

"The fourth quarter showed a positive trend, with exports increasing by 6 percent and imports by 7 percent," Leppmets added.

Re-exports fell by 9 percent, and exports of goods of Estonian origin decreased by 1 percent, between 2023 and 2024, the agency reported.

The largest drops were seen in the exports of prefabricated wooden buildings and scrap metal, balanced by growth in agricultural products, food preparations, and optical instruments.

The share of Estonian-origin goods in tot

al exports rose to 65 percent.

Exports

The main exported commodities were electrical equipment (15 percent of total exports), agricultural products and food preparations (12 percent of the total), and wood products (11 percent).

The biggest fall was in mineral products, down by €433 million, and mechanical appliances, down by €164 million. Agricultural products and food preparations saw the greatest rise, of €117 million.

Estonia's top export partners were Finland (16 percent of exports), Latvia (11 percent), and Sweden (9 percent), with falls in exports to Finland (down by €326 million) the result of fewer mineral product exports.

Imports

Imported commodities included transport equipment (14 percent of total imports), electrical equipment (13 percent of the total), and agricultural products (13 percent).

The biggest fall in imports was seen in mineral products (which went down by €443 million), while the largest rise came in agricultural products and food preparations (up by €224 million).

The main import partners were Finland (13 percent), Germany (12 percent), Latvia (11 percent), and Lithuania (11 percent).

The biggest fall in imports among these was seen with Finland (down by €537 million), primarily due to fewer mineral products and electricity being imported.

Trade deficit

In December, exports totaled €1.3 billion and imports €1.7 billion.

The trade deficit for the month stood at €381 million, up by €110 million from last year. As noted, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania were the top trade partners.

Statistics Estonia carried out the above research on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

More detailed information from Statistics Estonia is available here, here, and here.

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