External trade in services

Updated: 1 September 2023

Next update: 1 December 2023

Trade balance
Trade balance
2nd quarter 2023
12.9
NOK billion
External trade in services for non-financial enterprises
External trade in services for non-financial enterprises1
NOK billionChange in per cent
2nd quarter 20232nd quarter 2022 - 2nd quarter 20231st quarter 2023 - 2nd quarter 2023
Exports105.116.56.3
Imports92.112.47.4
Trade balance12.957.7-1.0
1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by service type
    External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by service type1
    2nd quarter 2023Change in per cent
    NOK millionShare1st quarter 2023 - 2nd quarter 20232nd quarter 2022 - 2nd quarter 2023
    Exports
    All service types105 057100.06.316.5
    Contract work and repairs6 9036.6-5.214.8
    Services related to oil and gas exploration excluding surveying6 3086.018.022.2
    Building and construction projects4 0373.8202.91 097.9
    Wholesale trade1 3471.311.9-9.5
    Sea and coastal water transport38 93037.11.6-2.2
    Transport by air and inland transport4 6194.410.77.2
    Supporting and auxiliary transport activities, travel agency activities5 2485.012.231.0
    Post and telecommunication4 0883.912.250.3
    Renting of transportation, machinery and equipment2 7272.617.5124.8
    IT services7 5667.20.937.2
    Research and development (R&D)1 6231.51.671.7
    Business services15 23414.5-3.613.4
    Leisure activities, cultural services and sports3750.4-20.6-50.6
    Other services6 0535.817.534.7
    Imports
    All service types92 122100.07.412.4
    Contract work and repairs7 6408.37.319.8
    Services related to oil and gas exploration excluding surveying9 28510.118.922.3
    Building and construction projects1 5131.68.086.6
    Wholesale trade4460.5-7.7-42.5
    Sea and coastal water transport10 25911.1-1.0-20.7
    Transport by air and inland transport4 6735.1-6.65.5
    Supporting and auxiliary transport activities, travel agency activities10 77611.74.22.1
    Post and telecommunication2 5652.821.027.2
    Renting of transportation, machinery and equipment3 2373.529.415.7
    IT services13 47114.6-0.213.1
    Research and development (R&D)1 7501.91.719.8
    Business services19 33021.014.831.6
    Leisure activities, cultural services and sports1 0821.2-33.2-20.0
    Other services6 0946.623.842.2
    1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
    Explanation of symbols
  • External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by major industry activity
    External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by major industry activity1
    2nd quarter 2023Change in per cent
    NOK millionShare1st quarter 2023 - 2nd quarter 20232nd quarter 2022 - 2nd quarter 2023
    Exports
    All industries105 057100.06.316.5
    Mining and quarrying9 8969.412.056.9
    Manufacturing8 8038.4-17.26.5
    Construction1 0371.024.2156.7
    Wholesale and retail trade2 2472.1-8.011.2
    Transportation and storage47 17644.96.52.4
    Information and communication14 41513.77.228.5
    Professional, scientific and technical activities11 01310.511.515.4
    Administrative and support service activities2 5032.4-5.510.1
    Other industries7 9687.638.095.6
    Imports
    All industries92 122100.07.412.4
    Mining and quarrying17 66519.219.333.7
    Manufacturing9 0329.8-2.516.9
    Construction1 6781.830.285.0
    Wholesale and retail trade6 8627.4-2.513.1
    Transportation and storage22 96124.94.1-7.1
    Information and communication15 64917.03.68.8
    Professional, scientific and technical activities9 92810.816.933.0
    Administrative and support service activities4 2764.617.19.4
    Other industries4 0714.40.913.1
    1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
    Explanation of symbols
  • External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by service type. Last 5 quarters. NOK million
    External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, by service type. Last 5 quarters. NOK million1
    2nd quarter 20223rd quarter 20224th quarter 20221st quarter 20232nd quarter 2023
    Balance8 204.014 152.011 232.013 069.012 935.0
    Exports
    All service types90 189101 847106 27298 808105 057
    Contract work and repairs6 0117 1248 4087 2846 903
    Services related to oil and gas exploration excluding surveying5 1627 2726 9585 3476 308
    Building and construction projects3373761 2691 3334 037
    Wholesale trade1 4881 2291 2091 2041 347
    Sea and coastal water transport39 79545 20841 30438 30238 930
    Transport by air and inland transport4 3085 6825 1584 1734 619
    Supporting and auxiliary transport activities, travel agency activities4 0064 4974 5294 6785 248
    Post and telecommunication2 7202 7203 3013 6434 088
    Renting of transportation, machinery and equipment1 2131 5121 3592 3202 727
    IT services5 5145 7457 8577 4957 566
    Research and development (R&D)9451 0771 4371 5981 623
    Business services13 43714 01117 32615 80815 234
    Leisure activities, cultural services and sports759476441472375
    Other services4 4944 9185 7165 1516 053
    Imports
    All service types81 98587 69595 04085 73992 122
    Contract work and repairs6 3757 5498 5017 1207 640
    Services related to oil and gas exploration excluding surveying7 5938 41310 3237 8129 285
    Building and construction projects8111 0951 0811 4011 513
    Wholesale trade776564760483446
    Sea and coastal water transport12 93313 96013 24610 35910 259
    Transport by air and inland transport4 4284 4264 8155 0014 673
    Supporting and auxiliary transport activities, travel agency activities10 55512 59311 67710 34410 776
    Post and telecommunication2 0171 8612 0402 1202 565
    Renting of transportation, machinery and equipment2 7983 1603 2372 5013 237
    IT services11 91411 60913 66113 49613 471
    Research and development (R&D)1 4611 5392 1641 7211 750
    Business services14 68715 22017 62016 83719 330
    Leisure activities, cultural services and sports1 3521 1861 3161 6201 082
    Other services4 2854 5204 5984 9236 094
    1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
    Explanation of symbols
  • External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, major industry activity. Last 5 quarters. NOK million
    External trade in services for non-financial enterprises, major industry activity. Last 5 quarters. NOK million1
    2nd quarter 20223rd quarter 20224th quarter 20221st quarter 20232nd quarter 2023
    Balance8 204.014 152.011 232.013 069.012 935.0
    Exports
    All industries90 189101 847106 27298 808105 057
    Mining and quarrying6 3078 9958 9118 8349 896
    Manufacturing8 2639 22513 06410 6368 803
    Construction4043444638351 037
    Wholesale and retail trade2 0202 2793 0162 4432 247
    Transportation and storage46 08752 06247 65044 31047 176
    Information and communication11 21911 04113 80513 45114 415
    Professional, scientific and technical activities9 54110 04410 9949 87511 013
    Administrative and support service activities2 2742 9082 7432 6502 503
    Other industries4 0744 9505 6255 7747 968
    Imports
    All industries81 98587 69595 04085 73992 122
    Mining and quarrying13 21514 68617 06214 80517 665
    Manufacturing7 7287 81210 1979 2639 032
    Construction9079631 2651 2891 678
    Wholesale and retail trade6 0655 8827 0137 0356 862
    Transportation and storage24 70827 71926 46022 06322 961
    Information and communication14 38314 33316 48215 10315 649
    Professional, scientific and technical activities7 4677 3508 2998 4939 928
    Administrative and support service activities3 9105 0213 9513 6524 276
    Other industries3 6013 9284 3114 0364 071
    1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Revisions from previous publication (per cent) by import/export, industry and time. Per cent
    Revisions from previous publication (per cent) by import/export, industry and time. Per cent1
    1st quarter 20222nd quarter 20223rd quarter 20224th quarter 20221st quarter 2023
    Imports
    All industries0.00.00.00.60.7
    Mining and quarrying0.00.00.00.03.8
    Manufacturing0.00.00.00.12.6
    Construction0.00.00.00.0-5.0
    Wholesale and retail trade0.00.00.01.4-0.4
    Transportation and storage0.00.00.01.7-1.3
    Information and communication0.00.00.00.13.9
    Professional, scientific and technical activities0.00.00.00.0-3.0
    Administrative and support service activities0.00.00.00.0-3.4
    Other industries0.00.00.00.00.2
    Exports
    All industries0.20.20.20.30.7
    Mining and quarrying0.00.00.0-0.21.1
    Manufacturing0.00.00.00.03.7
    Construction0.00.00.00.02.7
    Wholesale and retail trade0.00.00.00.1-0.2
    Transportation and storage0.50.40.40.7-0.1
    Information and communication0.00.00.00.11.5
    Professional, scientific and technical activities0.00.00.00.0-0.4
    Administrative and support service activities0.00.00.00.04.3
    Other industries0.00.00.00.00.0
    1The last five quarters are preliminary figures and can be revised.
    The table was updated at 15:30 pm on 30 November 2022.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics External trade in services show Norwegian non-financial corporations revenues on exports of services, and expenses for imports of services. The figures are collected as a quarterly sample survey.

Imports:
Imports of services comprise all services delivered to the reporting enterprise by companies, affiliates, legal persons or other units regarded as foreigners, and for which payments are made to the counterparts. The services can be delivered either in Norway or abroad.

Exports:
Exports of services comprise all services delivered from the reporting enterprise to companies, affiliates, legal persons or other units regarded as foreigners, and for which payments are made by the counterparts. The services can be delivered either in Norway or abroad.

Enterprise (or the Reporting group) Trade in services with foreign affiliates within the same reporting group shall be included in the quarterly report in the same manner as other trade in services with foreign companies, specified with type of service (CPA-code). Such trade in services must also be specified in individual items, and reported correspondingly as “herav eksport av konserninterne tjenester (of which internal export of services within the same group)" for export and “herav import av konserninterne tjenester (of which internal import of services within the same group)" for import of services.

  • In this context, "group" means units with a certain relationship, such as parent company, subsidiaries, (sister companies and others) and branches, etc.
  • A holding company or parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors.
  • A subsidiary is a company that is owned and directly controlled by the parent company.
  • A sub-subsidiary is a company that is owned and directly controlled by the subsidiary, but is not directly controlled by the parent company.
  • “Control" means possession of more than 50 per cent of the ownership of another company.

Country:
Import: The country the foreign trade partner (supplier) is registered in.
Export: The country the foreign trade partner (customer) is registered in.

In terms of economical statistics, use of common standards is essential in enabling the comparison and analysis of statistical data at national / international level and over time.

NACE:
From 2010 on, the Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SN 2007) has been used. SN 2007 correlates with the EU's standard NACE Rev. 2, and forms the basis for coding units according to principal activity in the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises.

Until the published statistics for the year 2009, the Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2002 (SN 2002) was being used, which is a Norwegian adaption of NACE Rev. 1. (EUROSTAT).

CPA:
The EU product standard “Classification of Products by Activity" (CPA).

Country:
Alfa-2-code of ISO 3166 is being used. The codes are defined at SSb's "Classification of country codes"

Name: External trade in services Topic: External economy
1 December 2023
Division for External Trade Statistics
The statistics indicates non-financial enterprises' share of external trade in services at a national level.

From 2006 until 2010 the statistics were published annually, and from the 1st quarter 2011 the statistics is being published on a quarterly basis.

The statistics forms an important part of the balance of payments statistics and the national accounts, and the data is used as a part of the reporting to international institutions such as IMF, OECD and Eurostat; the statistical office of the EU.

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The statistics on external trade in services was established in 2005, when the Central Bank of Norway discontinued the foreign payment statistics.

The purpose of the statistics is to give information about service flows between Norway and other countries. Income and expenditure in connection with exports and imports of services to and from other countries are important economic indicators, both in describing structural changes and in monitoring the economic trends.

The statistics are an important basis for prognoses and analyses by public authorities, research institutions and private organisations. International organisations like the UN 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 payments statistics.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

International trade in services for non-financial enterprises is an important source for export and import of services in the national accounts and the balance of payments statistics.

Exports and imports of services in the national accounts (and the balance of payments) include more than trade in services by non-financial enterprises. Both the balance of payments and the national accounts include trade in services that all domestic sectors have with other countries. In addition to non-financial enterprises; these are : financial enterprises, non-profit organizations, households and public administration. In addition to this difference in extent, there also are some differences in definitions. The most important are that the national accounts (and the balance of payments statistics):

  • Includes the freightage in connection with the value of imported goods (CIF-value), and not via the import of services
  • Includes the value of Norwegian shipping enterprises' freightage in connection with export of goods from Norway, independent of who are paying for the commission, while external trade in services for non-financial enterprises only includes such freight if the foreign part is paying
  • Estimates import and export of insurance services as a share of premium payment.
  • Estimates import and export of indirectly measured banking services.
  • Redefines some goods where the value is dominated by the service content.
  • Includes conventional estimated export and import according to Norway’s ownership in the Nordic airline company, SAS.

Another difference is that when it comes to freight income in shipping and distribution by country, external trade in services for non-financial enterprises follow the payments, while in balance of payments, statistics on arrivals of vessels are being used.

All the conditions mentioned above give non-comparable figures between the statistics of international trade in services for non-financial enterprises, and the numbers for exports and imports of services given in the national accounts and the balance of payments.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

European Parliament and Council Regulation No. 184/2005 - amended by Regulation No. 602/2006 and 707/2009 -incorporated in the EEA-agreement ruling the scope of the statistics, with obligations under EU regulations for data compiling and transmission of data to the EU's statistical office, Eurostat.

The statistics include external trade in services and are compiled through a quarterly reporting from non-financial Norwegian enterprises. Until 2008, the survey was annual.

The reporting unit is the legal entities that produce goods and services for sale. The population in this survey is based on the information from the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (VoF). The population is updated using various administrative registers, such as the Register of Cross border Transactions and Currency Exchange, information through contact with the largest reporting enterprises and information in the media.

The statistics are based on information from non-financial enterprises. The respondents shall report data every quarter.

Population

The population concerning external trade in services for non-financial enterprises includes all enterprises. The population excludes small enterprises which have no or just a small amount of external trade in services. To join this very limited population, the rest of the enterprises must fulfill at least one of the following five criteria:

  • Total ingoing and outgoing cash flow transactions exceeding NOK 500 000, or outgoing transactions concerning import of services exceeding NOK 50 000 based on cash flow statistics
  • FATS (Foreign-controlled enterprises in Norway/ Norwegian controlled enterprises abroad)
  • The enterprise has been in the sample for at least four years, and has reported figures on external trade in services
  • Enterprises within the quarrying and mining industry, which has joined VAT number with an enterprise which fulfill the first criteria
  • The enterprise is within the external ocean transport industry, and has a turnover of at least NOK 5 000 000 .

When all enterprises not fulfilling at least one of these five criteria are excluded, one is left with around 33 000 enterprises.

The population includes following sectors in the Classification of institutional sector :


• 1110 - Public unincorporated enterprises, owned by central government
• 1120 - Public unincorporated enterprises, owned by central government
• 1510 - Public unincorporated enterprises, owned by local government
• 1520 - Public unincorporated enterprises, owned by local government
• 2100 - Private non-financial incorporated enterprises
• 2300 - Private non-financial unincorporated enterprises
• 2500 - Private non-profit institutions serving enterprises
• 8200 -.Unincorporated enterprises within households
• 4900 - Other financial enterprises outside of insurance - only individual groups

The stratification is based on the desire to divide the population into homogeneous groups. The stratification should ideally reflect homogeneity inside of the group, and a difference in the service trade between the groups. The different strata are defined by industry, how important industries are for trade in services, figures from the foreign exchange register and division according to "FATS /non-FATS" enterprises.

From the population, a sample of enterprises is drawn stratified simply by chance. To allocate the sample between the strata, optimal allocation has been used.

The sample is distributed among enterprises with high significance of having external trade in services, and enterprises who are drawn randomly. The companies with high significance belong to a group that we are quite sure they have trade in services abroad.

The share of the randomly drawn enterprises was reduced by 20 per cent in 2016 to meet the demand for reduced reporting burden for medium and small enterprises. This means that the total sample now is about 2,700, of which 700 with high significance.

The data is sent to Statistics Norway electronically, either by filling the Web questionnaire or by uploading the data file via Altinn (Norwegian internett portal for businesses, private individuals and public agencies for transmitting data). The reporting deadline for each quarterly reporting is the 25th day of the month following the end of the reporting period.

The data are checked when reported to Statistics Norway, and for some types of errors, the respondent is contacted to get the errors corrected. The data are also verified by comparing them with data from previous reports, accounting data, annual reports and other sources.

The trade in services is estimated by using a stratified expansion estimate. This estimator is calculated as follows:


1. Within each stratum, the average export / import figures are calculated (i.e. based on the sample)
2. Because the sample is drawn in a simple random stratification, these averages could be good estimates of the actual averages in the various strata. Any extreme observations are kept out in the calculation of the average.
3. Within each stratum we multiply the calculated averages with the number of enterprises in the stratum (in the limited population). This will be an estimate of total exports / imports in the stratum.

Fo the time being, the data is not seasonally adjusted.

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

After United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU was formally completed on the 1st of February 2020, there was a change in the statistics "foreign trade in services". Since the survey does not measure trade every month, but for the quarter as a whole, the United Kingdom in the statistics is moved from the region "EU countries outside the Nordic countries" to the region "Rest of Europe" as of Q1 2020.

Starting with the 1st quarter of 2019, a new type of service was introduced: "IT-related license fees" which will affect the existing type of service "Royalties and license fees". This means that the export/import of "IT services" and export/import of "Other services" cannot be directly compared to previous publications.

In conjunction with the first quarter of 2017, a change has been made in the compilation of service types. The service grouping railway and land transport services was merged with air transport services to a new group of air and land transport services. This applies to Tables 2 and 4, which show foreign trade services for non-financial corporations, by service type. In Statbank table 10192, the changes date back to Q1 2015. This means that the figures are not directly comparable with the previous publications.


The statistics have also undergone a change of methodology, and figures for the foreign shipping industry were taken from the publication for 2010 and up to and including the publication for 1Q 2013. Figures for 2Q 2013 are therefore not comparable with early publications. This method conversion implies a change in the use of sources. See the national accounts' web pages on International accounts.

See also : Coherence with other statistics above.

The figures the companies report to SSB should only concern external trade in services. There might be some difficulties in differentiating between goods and services, and between a Norwegian unit and a foreign unit. This might lead to weakness for the statistics, since errors and ommission may occur in the reporting.

Many of the reporting enterprises are involved in huge projects, this can affect the data collected, especially when large projects are created and are completed.

A weakness of the statistic can be due to non-response. To overcome this problem with both partial- and total missing data, missing values are imputed.

Another possible error is the sampling error; which is the difference between the sample's reported values and the values that would be if the whole population was investigated. To reduce this problem we try to make sure that the biggest companies are included in the sample.

External trade in services publishes preliminary figures quarterly. However, further revisions of the figures continue for five more quarters, until the final figures are released. Corrections in data mean that the quarterly figures can be changed until publication of the final figures. The difference between the preliminary figures and the final figures is usually small at the aggregated level. At the detailed level, and for individual quarters, revisions can have greater significance, in relative terms. Table 5 in each release of the statistics show the revisions form previous publications.

Revision plan External trade in services

This year
(T)

Last year
(T-1)

The year before last
(T-2)

Publications

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1 (June year T)

R4

R3

R2

R1

FR5

Q2 (Sept year T)

R1

FR5

R4

R3

R2

Q3 (Dec year T)

R2

R1

FR5

R4

R3

Q4 (Mar year T+1)

R3

R2

R1

FR5

R4

R1 - FR5 = Revision number (R1 = first revision, FR5 = Final figures, Revison no. 5)


Contact

Opplysningstjenesten for tjenestehandelen

tjenestehandel@ssb.no

Ida Clemetsen Surén

ida.suren@ssb.no

(+47) 98 89 96 00