Foreign trade in services Q1 2020
Foreign trade in services decelerated in the first quarter 2020
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-06-08 9.30
Swedish exports and imports of services noted a slowdown in the first quarter of 2020. Exports increased by 0.4 percent and imports increased by 0.5 percent compared with the same period last year. It is likely that the coronavirus has had an impact on foreign trade in services.
Effect on net trade was marginal
Exports of services increased by 0.4 percent in the first quarter and imports of services increased by 0.5 percent. By comparison, growth in the first quarter of 2019 was 16.7 percent and 15.1 percent for exports and imports respectively. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Swedish foreign trade is the most likely reason for the reduced growth rate.
In the first quarter of 2020, exports of services were valued at SEK 164 billion, while the value of imports was SEK 168 billion. This resulted in a net trade deficit of SEK 3.8 billion. The net trade deficit in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to SEK 3.7 billion, and thus the change is marginal.
Downturn across the board in many services
The main contribution to the increase in trade in services came from other business services. Other business services consist of services such as research and development services, administrative services, and marketing services. Under exports, personal services, mainly the subgroup audiovisual services, also contributed to the total increase. Imports of personal services also increased, but contributed less to the total. Under imports, charges for the use of intellectual property and computer services contributed to the total increase.
The other types of services generally noted a broad decrease. Travel and transports decreased under both exports and imports. This decrease is probably due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both services decreased more among imports than among exports.
| Exports | Imports | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share in % | Change in % | Share in % | Change in % | ||||||
| 2020Q1 | 2019Q1 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q1/2019Q1 | 2020Q1 | 2019Q1 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q1/2019Q1 | ||
| Total | 164 348 | 163 694 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 168 184 | 167 408 | 100.0 | 0.5 | |
| Manufacturing services | 3 067 | 3 250 | 1.9 | ‑5.6 | 3 897 | 3 813 | 2.3 | 2.2 | |
| Maintenance and repair services | 703 | 1 041 | 0.4 | ‑32.5 | 894 | 930 | 0.5 | ‑3.9 | |
| Transport | 22 436 | 23 392 | 13.7 | ‑4.1 | 22 355 | 27 977 | 13.3 | ‑20.1 | |
| Travel | 16 354 | 16 750 | 10.0 | ‑2.4 | 25 071 | 29 119 | 14.9 | ‑13.9 | |
| Construction | 1 122 | 1 311 | 0.7 | ‑14.4 | 2 812 | 3 899 | 1.7 | ‑27.9 | |
| Insurance | 1 950 | 2 086 | 1.2 | ‑6.5 | 1 799 | 1 868 | 1.1 | ‑3.7 | |
| Financial services | 7 635 | 8 025 | 4.6 | ‑4.9 | 4 580 | 4 589 | 2.7 | ‑0.2 | |
| Charges for the use of intellectual property | 18 618 | 19 344 | 11.3 | ‑3.8 | 17 908 | 14 522 | 10.6 | 23.3 | |
| Telecommunications, computer, and information services | 30 140 | 30 520 | 18.3 | ‑1.2 | 24 996 | 22 175 | 14.9 | 12.7 | |
| Other business services | 47 938 | 47 667 | 29.2 | 0.6 | 60 073 | 55 232 | 35.7 | 8.8 | |
| Personal, cultural, and recreational services | 13 211 | 9 204 | 8.0 | 43.5 | 3 266 | 2 741 | 1.9 | 19.2 | |
| Government goods and services | 1 174 | 1 106 | 0.7 | 6.1 | 535 | 543 | 0.3 | ‑1.5 | |
Revisions
Foreign trade in services has been revised from the first quarter of 2018. This revision resulted in a break in the time series between 2017 and 2018. The years prior to 2018 will be revised in 2020.
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
2020-09-07 09:30.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.