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/en/utenriksokonomi/statistikker/muh/arkiv
38145
Less surplus than in March last year
statistikk
2003-04-15T10:00:00.000Z
External economy
en
muh, External trade in goods, import, export, balance of trade (export minus import), mainland exports, imports excluding ships and oil platforms, trade ( between countries, continents and trade regions), international product groups (for example hs, sitc and bec), product groups (for example food, crude oil and metals)External trade , External economy
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External trade in goods, March 2003

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Less surplus than in March last year

Imports in March this year came to NOK 24.1 billion, up 3.0 billion from March last year. Exports decreased by 0.9 billion to NOK 40.7 billion. The trade surplus this month was NOK 16.5 billion, a 11.2 per cent fall from March last year.

The export value in March of crude oil and natural gas amounts to NOK 24.4 billion. The crude oil quantity declined from 85 million barrels in March 2002 to 74 million barrels for March this year. The export value was about the same, since oil prices increased by 13 per cent to NOK 226 per barrel.

Surplus decrease

The 3.0 million increase in imports is most likely related to the Easter holidays, which in 2002 came in March, but in April this year. In addition, a significantly lower export of aircraft this year, compared with March 2002 contributes to lower the surplus.

Value of oil products up

The value of exports excluding crude oil and natural gas declined by 5.1 per cent or NOK 2.6 billion, from 1s t quarter 2002 to the corresponding quarter this year.

The overall reduction of the export value was somewhat counteracted by higher prices of oil products, such as gasoline, propane and butane. For this product group, the export value increased by NOK 1.9 billion in the 1s t quarter this year compared with same period last year.

Most of the other groups showed a decline. Paper, iron and steel and metals decreased by NOK 763 million, industrial machines, computer and telecommunication products by NOK 630 million and manufactured goods and chemical exports down by NOK 441.

Fish exports share of total exports for acceding and applicant countries to the EU. January-March 2003

Fish exports down

Exports of fish went down by NOK 812 million, or 11.6 per cent, ending at NOK 6.2 billion for the 1s t quarter 2003. This concerns mostly products of herring, mackerel and cod. Excluding crude oil and natural gas, fish products made up 12.8 per cent of the exports during this quarter. Products such as oil and pellets based on marine animals are not included.

The acceding and applicant countries to the EU have a significantly higher share of fish in their imports from Norway, 23.61 per cent, than the EU. The EU Member States average is 3.4 per cent. Poland ranks on the top with a 34.5 per cent share, and is in addition the biggest fish market among the acceding and applicant countries.

Seasonally adjusted figures

Seasonally adjusted figures for the 3-month period January-March for exports of traditional goods show a decrease of 0.7. per cent compared with the period October-December 2002.

Traditional imports had an increase of 2.0 per cent for the corresponding periods.

External Trade in Goods, excl. Ships and Oil Platforms. Million NOK
  January-March Change, per cent March Change, per cent
  2002 2003 2002 2003
Imports 66 045      67 442 2.1      21 161      24 144 14.1
Exports  116 199  123 333 6.1 39 783 40 686 2.3
Of which:            
Crude oil 44 934 53 389 18.8 17 012 16 743 -1.6
Natural gas 19 807 20 215 2.1 5 490 7 047 28.4
Condensates  682 1 519  122.8  216  561  159.6
Exports excl. crude oil, natural gas and condensates 50 776 48 210 -5.1 17 064 16 335 -4.3
Trade balance (2-1) 50 154 55 891 11.4 18 622 16 543 -11.2
Trade balance excl. oil, natural gas and condensates (3-1) -15 269 -19 232 . -4 097 -7 809 .
1  The figure was corrected 15 April 2003 at 1045 a.m.

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