Monthly, preliminary figures for the preceding month are released on the 15th, or the first subsequent workday. Final figures for the preceding year are released in April or May.
Statistics for imports and exports of goods on the national level and by customs district. Exports figures are also given by county of production.
270 - Division for external trade
The Statistics Act, §§ 2-1, 2-3 and 3-2.
EU-regulations incorporated in the EEA-agreement ruling the scope of the statistics, defining the variables and prescribing the format of the transmissions of data to the EU statistical office, Eurostat.
COMMISSION REGULATION of 4 October 2002 on the nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States
COMMISSION REGULATION of 15 October 2002 on the nomenclature of countries and territories for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1669/2001 of 20 August 2001 amending Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1917/2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1917/2000 of 07 September 2000 laying down certain provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 as regards statistics on external trade
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 374/98 of 12 February 1998 amending Articles 6 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 476/97 of 13 March 1997 amending, with respect to statistical territory, Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries
Reports are being sent to Eurostat, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund, (IMF) and UN.
The purpose of the external trade statistics is to give information about the commodity flows between Norway and other countries. Exports and imports are important economic indicators both in describing structural changes and in monitoring the economic trends. The monthly statistics on external trade in goods have been published since 1913.
The statistics are intended to cover the demands from industry and trade for data in their planning of production, marketing and sales. The statistics are needed for prognoses and analyses performed by public authorities, research institutions and private organisations. International organisations like the UN´s statistical office, the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) and others make use of the information that the external trade statistics gives. The external trade statistics are a part of the national and international statistical systems, and are also used in the compilation of the national accounts and the balance of payment statistics.
Commodity flows between the Norwegian statistical territory and other countries. The Norwegian statistical territory comprises the Norwegian customs territory, the Norwegian part of the continental shelf, Svalbard, Bjørnøya and Jan Mayen.
The statistics cover customs declared shipments, exports of crude oil and natural gas from the Norwegian Continental Shelf and imports of ships and oil platforms.
Administrative data from customs declarations are collected by the customs authority under the Customs Act. The relevant data are transmitted electronically from the Directorate of Customs and Excise to Statistics Norway twice a week.
Data collected by means of reports from the following:
Quantities, preliminary figures: data from the enterprises operating the petroleum fields, terminals and pipelines.
Final figures: data from the Petroleum Directorate.
Information for the compilation of prices: data from exporters and title holders in Norwegian petroleum fields, norm prices from the Petroleum Directorate, operators of pipelines and Norwegian enterprises controlling terminals abroad.
Data collected by Statistics Norway by means of reports from Norwegian companies upon transfers of vessels and platforms between Norwegian and foreign companies as registered owners.
Data collected by Statistics Norway by means of reports from Nordpool.
Imports and exports of planes are controlled by monthly reports from Luftfartsverket.
Data collected by means of monthly reports from Svalbard.
Total counting. Customs' cleared consignments with a value of less than NOK 1 000 are excluded from the statistics. Certain kinds of commodity flows are also excluded, for example goods for repair.
Data from customs declarations: see 3.2 above.
Unless otherwise stated, the data are collected by mail, e-mail or fax, depending on the method preferred by the respondent.
For the compilation of preliminary figures, Statistics Norway receives a copy of an administrative report for each shipment. Monthly information on exports of oil and gas transported abroad by pipeline is collected by telephone.
Preliminary prices: quotations in daily newspapers
Final figures, quantity: administrative data from the Petroleum Directorate
Final figures, values, transport tariffs and other costs: quarterly information from the relevant companies.
Final prices for natural gas: reports twice a year from title holders of petroleum fields producing natural gas for exports to the Continent. Monthly information by fax on Norwegian gas delivered to the UK.
Unstabilised crude oil transported by pipeline from Ekofisk to Teesside is recorded as exports to the United Kingdom (UK). The same applies to the Norwegian share of crude oil from the British oil field Murchison to Sullom Voe. When the oil is separated into stabilised crude oil and NGL, some of it is shipped back to Norway and recorded as imports from the UK. The Norwegian exports statistics do not show the country distribution for shipping of stabilised crude oil and NGL that is sent from Teeside and Sullum Voe to other countries. However, table 44 shows the partner country distribution of the aggregate of all shipments of Norwegian crude oil directly from the oil fields and from terminals in Norway and the UK.
The transactions are identified through current information from the Norwegian Ship Registers (ordinary and the international), as well as quarterly data from Lloyds Information Service. Data are collected by means of a special form.
The data go through automatic controls in the electronic customs' declaration system. The controls are partly determined by the customs and partly in cooperation with Statistics Norway, regarding the checking of price, quantity and partner country. In the subsequent revision in Statistics Norway procedure codes, commodity numbers, quantities, country and transport codes are examined by a system which intends to catch and correct the potentially most serious errors in the data, either directly or upon consultation with the customs district and/or declarant.
The revision procedures also cover ships and oil platforms and exports of crude oil and natural gas. All revisions are normally finalised in April of the following year. Because the figures form a basis for price indexes, the data are revised back two years. The changes in year t-2 are normally minor.
External trade statistics are based on total counting, hence the calculations that are made are quite simple. They consist of aggregating different variables so the figures can be published in an adequate manner.
§ 2-6 of the Statistics Act covers the publication of information. The practice of confidentiality is that the company itself has to ask for suppression of the data. Suppression can be claimed when three or fewer companies export or import a good, or if one company has a market share of more than 90 per cent or two companies have a market share of more than 95 per cent.
Imports comprise goods that are declared directly at the border crossing or via a customs' warehouse. Goods going directly from abroad to regular installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are not included, whereas goods via Norwegian customs district are included. Imports of ships and oil platforms are transactions where a vessel is transferred from a foreign to a Norwegian company as registered owner of the vessel.
Exports comprise goods declared for exports directly from free circulation and from customs' warehouses. Exports of ships and oil platforms are transactions where a vessel is transferred from a Norwegian to a foreign company as registered owner of the vessel.
In the external trade statistics the term "traditional goods" means goods exclusive of ships and oil platforms and exports also exclusive of crude oil, natural gas and condensates..
The Norwegian commodity classification for customs' and statistical purposes is based on the international customs and statistics nomenclature (Harmonised System, HS)
Import: Country of origin and country of consignment
Export: Country of destination
International classifications of mode of transport and delivery terms from the customs declarations.
Net weight in kilogrammes and quantity in supplementary unit according to the Norwegian customs' tariff nomenclature
The value when crossing the Norwegian border, before duties, value added and other taxes.
Customs, VAT and other costs are not included in the statistical value. For crude oil that is exported by ship directly from installations on the Norwegian continental shelf, the value when leaving the installations is used. For crude oil and natural gas that is transported from the Norwegian continental shelf by pipeline, the statistical value is the value when leaving the Norwegian continental shelf. The value of transport in international water and to a terminal abroad is included in the exports of services. Finally, the statistical value for exports and imports is the transfer sum including takeover of debt, excluding the value of a possibly enclosed charter party.
Customs house/customs district; county of origin for exports
The nationality of conveyance, procedure code (specifies category of commodity flow), preference code, VAT-number of importer/exporter etc.
The Harmonised System's classification groups goods mainly according to their type of physical material. In addition to the six-digit code of the HS, the Norwegian nomenclature has a national seventh digit for customs' purposes and an eighth for statistical needs. The nomenclature is published annually in the series NOS (Official Statistics of Norway) Commodity List. Apart from the text, the list is available on the web: http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/09/05/nos_com_list/
The UN Standard International Trade Classification (SITC-Rev.4), commodities grouped mainly by their level of processing.
The UN Classification by Broad Economic Categories (BEC) Defined in terms of SITC, Rev. 4. United Nations Statistical Papers M 53, Rev. 3
The country nomenclature follows the international standard ISO-3166. This standard is also used by EU countries, however with some minor differences.
Collection errors can occur because of declaration errors because of misunderstandings etc. Examples of this are use of wrong commodity number or incorrect quantity.
Not relevant.
Not relevant.
Not relevant.
The eight-digit, HS-based commodity classification is subject to revisions due to the development of commodities in the world trade. There are also yearly modifications on the national level. Detailed information is available in the paper edition of the annual NOS Commodity List. The most recent HS-revision took place at the turn of the year from 2001 to 2002 and 2006 to 2007. The HS classification, adopted in 1988, was a major reorganisation of the international customs' nomenclature.
From 1991 on, imports and exports of ships and oil platforms also encompass transactions concerning Norwegian vessels under foreign flag.
The UN guidelines in International Merchandise Trade Statistics, Concepts and Definitions ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/52/Rev.2.
After the monthly release of the statistics, the data are subject to further revisions until April in the following year. The figures of any particular month may thus be adjusted until the final, annual external trade statistics are published. Usually, there are but small differences between preliminary and final figures for traditional goods (below one per cent), whereas the revisions on a detailed level and for individual months may be relatively larger.
Monthly balance of payment; quarterly and yearly national accounts. About the connection between the external trade statistics and the balance of payment statistics: please see NOS External Trade, chapter 2.1.
Fishing and fish farming statistics: results for the export of fish and fish products, regrouped to industrial product standard
Transport statistics
Producer price index, selected goods
Environment statistics: data on mode of transport and quantity
The Balance of Payments has a somewhat broader scope compared to the External Trade in Goods statistics. The main deviations are that Balance of Payments includes as exports goods delivered to non-resident carriers in Norwegian ports, goods other than oil and gas exported directly from the Norwegian continental shelf, imports of fuel to Norwegian carriers in foreign ports, and direct imports of goods to the Norwegian continental shelf. In addition the Balance of Payments converts exports and imports of certain types of goods as registered in the external trade statistics into exports and imports of services.
For StatBank see left margin
Internet address: http://www.ssb.no/muh_en/
Information that can be found here is main figures, various quantity and value figures grouped by HS. and SITC. There are also price and volume indexes going back to 1994.
Monthly editions and an annual one containing final figures, published electronically, cf. Internet address in 7.1. Figures from 1994 until the last monthly issue are posted under the Internet address.
From the year 1913on monthly publications for external trade with goods.
Figures are published every Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Statistics Norway has published figures for since week 3 in 1996.
There is also a table in the StatBank that contains figures from January 2000.
The StatBank has yearly figures for trade for these goods as proportion of traditional goods, commodity group and part of country.
Annual publication, paper publication and on the Internet, http://www.ssb.no/emner/09/05/, Norwegian, with English subtitles
Web publication; external trade time series in the topic National accounts and valuation: http://www.ssb.no/emner/09/05/
Paper and electronic publication, see topic National accounts and external trade: http://www.ssb.no/english/yearbook/emne09.html
See Internet, http://www.ssb.no/english/yearbook/emne09.html
From 1851 yearly total figures in Historical statistics
Only paper publication:
NOS Norwegian trade from 1860 to 1960
NOS External trade from 1961
Paper and electronical publication:
NOS External trade from 1997
Only electronical publication:
NOS External trade from 2002
Time series that are available electronically or are published:
From 1960: detailed data for commodities and country.
From 1930: figures for external trade for important commodity groups and selected countries in Historical statistics 1994.
Special selection of statistics can be specially designed for detailed commodity grouping, country of origin and consignment for imports and country of destination for exports customs house station and county (added up from customs house station), and for exports county of origin from 1997 on.
Time series can be downloaded from a reference database covering monthly series of value for total imports and exports, for trade areas (continent and EU). Some of the series are available with seasonally adjusted figures. For some commodity groups there are figures for quantity and for fish farm salmon also for price.
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