External trade in goods, indices of volume and price, Q3 2012

The price decline in Norwegian exports of goods continued from the second quarter to the third quarter with lower prices in most product groups. In particular, the price developments in natural and manufactured gas together with non-ferrous metals were important to the overall decline in prices. In these product groups, prices fell by 4.3 and 3.6 per cent respectively. With the exception of certain quarters, prices in exported non-ferrous metals are characterised by falling prices throughout 2011 and 2012. Compared to the third quarter of 2011, export prices rose by 3.1 per cent, but excluding crude oil and natural gas, prices fell by 2.1 per cent.

The total volume of exported goods fell by 6.7 per cent from the second quarter to the third quarter, mainly driven by lower exports of petroleum and petroleum products together with natural and manufactured gas. Excluding crude oil and natural gas, the export volume dropped by 1.8 per cent. Besides oil and natural gas, lower exports of manufactured goods were important in bringing the total exported volume of goods down. Machinery and transport equipment as well as chemicals and related products were two product groups in which the exported volume grew from the second quarter to the third quarter this year. In these two groups, the export volume increased by 7 and 3.5 per cent respectively. Compared to the third quarter of 2011, the total exported volume of goods fell by 5.1 per cent.

Adjusted for seasonal variations, the volume of exports fell by 3.7 per cent from the second to the third quarter in 2012, and 2.5 per cent when excluding crude oil and natural gas.

Small decline in import prices

Overall, the prices of imported goods fell by 0.2 per cent compared to the second quarter in 2012. Lower prices in crude materials, except fuels, chemical and related products together with machinery and transport equipment were important in bringing the import prices down. Within these product groups, prices fell by 3.1, 1.8 and 0.6 per cent respectively. Prices of imported crude materials have experienced a continuous decline in prices since the third quarter of 2011, with an overall decline of 12.9 per cent. Although import prices as a whole fell from the second quarter to third the quarter this year, they showed a slight increase of 0.5 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2011.

From the second quarter to the third quarter of 2012, the total volume of imported goods fell by 0.8 per cent, but adjusted for seasonal fluctuations the imported volume increased. The imported volume was lower in most product groups except for crude materials, excluding fuels.