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84782
Lower trade surplus in April
statistikk
2012-05-15T10:00:00.000Z
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, April 2012

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Lower trade surplus in April

In April, the export of goods came to NOK 75.8 billion, while imports amounted to NOK 37.4 billion. The trade surplus ended at NOK 38.4 billion, down 6.3 per cent compared to April 2011.

Compared to April last year, exports went down by NOK 1.2 billion, while imports increased by NOK 1.4 billion. The decline in trade surplus was mainly due to lower exports of crude oil, a drop in mainland exports and an increase in imports of machinery and transport equipment. As in previous months, natural gas exports were high compared to last year.

Decline in oil exports

The export value of crude oil amounted to NOK 26.7 billion in April 2012, down 16.2 per cent, or NOK 5.2 billion compared to oil exports in April 2011. The decrease was due to lower export volumes. One contributing factor was the start of a maintenance period that began in April and will continue throughout the summer. A total of 38.4 million barrels were exported; 9.6 million less than in April 2011. The average price per barrel of crude oil was NOK 695; NOK 31 higher than in April 2011, but down NOK 27 from March 2012.

High exports of natural gas

As in the first three months of 2012, natural gas exports reached an all time high compared to corresponding periods in previous years. In April, exports of natural gas came to NOK 20.4 billion; an increase of NOK 6.2 billion, or 43.6 per cent, compared to April 2011. The exported volume of natural gas in a gaseous state amounted to 8.8 billion cubic metres. This was 2.1 billion more than in the same period last year.

External trade in goods, excl. ships and oil platforms. NOK million
  January-April Change in
per cent 		April Change in
per cent
  2011 2012 2011 2012
1 Imports  160 550        156 999        -2.2        35 979        37 363        3.8
2 Exports  304 618  331 994 9.0 76 986 75 769 -1.6
Of which            
Crude oil  113 604  114 498 0.8 31 916 26 733 -16.2
Natural gas 69 686 92 791 33.2 14 225 20 423 43.6
Condensates 2 958 4 012 35.6  879 1 107 26.0
3 Exports excl. crude oil, natural gas and condensates  118 370  120 693 2.0 29 966 27 506 -8.2
4 Trade balance (2-1)  144 068  174 995 21.5 41 007 38 406 -6.3
5 Trade balance excl. oil, natural gas and condensates (3-1) -42 180 -36 307 . -6 014 -9 857 .

Lower mainland exports

Exports excluding ships, oil platforms, crude oil, natural gas and condensates amounted to NOK 27.5 billion in April. This was down 8.2 per cent, or NOK 2.5 billion compared to April 2011.

Refined mineral products had the largest decline ending at NOK 4.3 billion, down NOK 1.5 billion compared to April 2011. A large decline was also seen in the main group chemicals and related products, which fell NOK 790 million and amounted to NOK 3.1 billion. Additionally, the export value of non-ferrous metals dropped NOK 647 million and came to NOK 3.2 billion.

Fish exports fell by NOK 519 million, ending at NOK 3.5 billion. Despite larger export volumes, the export values of fresh whole salmon went down NOK 302 million compared to April 2011. This was due to lower prices of salmon than in the corresponding period in 2011.

Rise in imports of machinery and transport equipment

Imports of goods excluding ships and oil platforms came to NOK 37.4 billion; an increase of 3.8 per cent, or NOK 1.4 billion compared to April 2011.

The largest increase was in the main group machinery and transport equipment, which went up NOK 1.4 billion compared to April last year, ending at NOK 14.2 billion. Within this group, road vehicles went up NOK 468 million to NOK 4.4 billion, while industrial machinery increased by NOK 681 million totalling NOK 4 billion.

Import values of electric current had the largest decline, down NOK 607 million, and came to NOK 65 million. This led to April having a net export of electric current of NOK 385 million. Furthermore, non-ferrous metals dropped NOK 566 million and amounted to NOK 710 million.

Changes in the external trade statistics for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011

At 10 am on 15 May 2012, Statistic’s Norway’s website ssb.no will be updated with final figures for 2011 and corrected final figures for 2009 and 2010 . The revision was mainly related to the exports of natural gas, crude oil and fish, see table for main changes .

The changes have also been made in Statbank .

National accounts and balance of payments will be revised for the years 2009 and 2010 in November and December 2012.

Tables: