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Foreign trade in services, quarter 3 2022

Increased value for trade in services compared to the previous year

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2022-12-02 13.00

Foreign trade in services increased during the third quarter compared to the previous year. Imports were stronger than exports, which resulted in a very low trade balance. Compared to the previous quarter, there was a slight rise in both imports and exports.

Strong imports and record low trade balance

Trade in services continued to increase during the third quarter of 2022. Exports of services increased by 25 percent and imports of services by 35 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Sweden’s exports of services were valued at SEK 207 billion in the third quarter of the year, while the value of imports was SEK 240 billion. This resulted in a negative net balance of SEK 34 billion. The corresponding figure for the same quarter last year was SEK -12 billion. The greatest underlying factors for the low balance of trade are the negative net balances for the use of intellectual property and other business services.

Travel and transports are increasing

The exports and imports of travel increased sharply during the third quarter. Exports increased by 67 percent and imports by 57 percent compared to the same period last year. Also transports increased during the quarter. Exports increased by 50 percent and imports by 56 percent compared to the third quarter of the previous year.

On the export side, personal, cultural, and recreational services increased by 24 percent and other business services by 20 percent.

On the import side, charges for the use of intellectual property increased by 54 percent, other business services by 22 percent and telecommunications, computer, and information services by 17 percent.

Exports and imports, by service item Q3 2022
  Exports Imports
Service item     Share in % Change in %     Share in % Change in %
  2022Q3 2021Q3 2022Q3 2022Q3/2021Q3 2022Q3 2021Q3 2022Q3 2022Q3/2021Q3
Total 206 839 166 012 100.0 24.6 240 438 177 984 100.0 35.1
Manufacturing services 5 104 2 547 2.5 100.4 3 907 3 079 1.6 26.9
Maintenance and repair services 629 477 0.3 31.8 2 962 2 403 1.2 23.3
Transport 30 503 20 403 14.7 49.5 32 907 21 098 13.7 56.0
Travel 31 850 19 127 15.4 66.5 41 262 26 340 17.2 56.7
Construction 1 738 1 079 0.8 61.1 2 926 3 349 1.2 ‑12.6
Insurance and pension services 2 070 1 615 1.0 28.2 1 743 1 323 0.7 31.7
Financial services 10 415 9 258 5.0 12.5 6 034 4 521 2.5 33.5
Charges for the use of intellectual property 15 359 16 248 7.4 ‑5.5 39 308 25 507 16.3 54.1
Telecommunications, computer, and information services 35 935 34 795 17.4 3.3 29 337 25 178 12.2 16.5
Other business services 53 654 44 667 25.9 20.1 74 568 61 167 31.0 21.9
Personal, cultural, and recreational services 18 299 14 713 8.8 24.4 4 846 3 425 2.0 41.5
Government goods and services 1 282 1 082 0.6 18.5 638 594 0.3 7.5

Revisions
Quarter 2 2022 has been revised.

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

2023-03-03, 08:00.

Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.

Statistical agency

The Riksbank

Enquiries

Statistics Sweden

Rebecca Vitri

Telephone
+46 10 479 41 16
E-mail
rebecca.vitri@scb.se

Christian Surtin

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+46 10-479 46 86
E-mail
christian.surtin@scb.se