External trade in goods

Updated: 15 May 2023

Next update: 15 June 2023

Exports
Exports
April 2023
153.6
NOK Billion
External trade in goods. Month and so far this year
External trade in goods. Month and so far this year1
NOK BillionChange in per centNOK Billion - so far this yearChange in per cent - so far this year
April 2023March 2023 - April 2023April 2022 - April 2023April 2023April 2022 - April 2023
Exports153.6-10.4-17.5658.3-15.9
Crude oil45.610.63.8170.9-3.3
Natural gas53.0-8.1-42.6249.3-36.7
Ships and oil platforms0.0-100.0.0.5-53.7
Mainland exports54.7-24.09.5236.111.9
Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and prep. thereof12.6-17.813.652.518.8
Imports77.5-23.36.9334.08.4
Ships and oil platforms0.0-100.0-100.01.6-53.7
The trade balance76.18.1-33.1324.3-31.7
The mainland trade balance-22.820.7-2.0-96.3-7.2
1Due to the data collection method, the preliminary monthly figures published for ships and oil platforms are often incomplete. In retrospect, therefore, the trade in these goods could in some cases lead to major corrections in the figures.
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and figures from this statistics

  • Imports of goods, main groups by SITC. Month and so far this year
    Imports of goods, main groups by SITC. Month and so far this year
    NOK MillionChange in per centNOK MillionChange in per cent
    April 2022April 2023April 2022 -April 2023So far this yearApril 2022 -April 2023
    April 2022April 2023
    Total72 50777 5096.9308 112333 9698.4
    Of which:
    Ships and oil platforms (part of SITC 793)2000-100.07 3461 612-78.1
    Imports excl. Ships and oil platforms72 30777 5097.2300 766332 35710.5
    0 Food and live animals4 5784 9177.419 66722 57114.8
    00 Live animals other than animals of div.037529-61.315076-49.1
    01 Meat and meat preparations208133-36.0890576-35.3
    02 Dairy products and birds' eggs1841987.77447926.3
    03 Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and prep. thereof314314-0.22 0732 2156.9
    04 Cereals and cereal preparations640588-8.32 5792 94214.1
    05 Vegetables and fruit1 3271 4448.85 1946 07216.9
    06 Sugars, sugar prepatations and honey14519232.267192337.6
    07 Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices34845430.51 6522 08226.0
    08 Feeding stuff for animals (not cereals)8961 02614.53 7744 47918.7
    09 Miscellaneous edible products44054122.81 9412 41324.3
    1 Beverages and tobacco1 2111 2110.14 4234 8068.7
    11 Beverages863818-5.23 0323 2828.3
    12 Tobacco and tobacco manufactures34839313.01 3911 5239.5
    2 Crude materials, inedible, except fuels5 0896 69631.622 52523 3473.7
    21 Hides, skins and furskins, raw3457.2151710.4
    22 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits38276630.378096724.0
    23 Crude rubber131837.9415739.3
    24 Wood, lumber and cork702398-43.42 7011 754-35.1
    25 Pulp and waste paper465724.1176163-7.3
    26 Textile fibres and their waste1711-31.55956-4.8
    27 Crude fertilizers and crude minerales40757741.91 7392 30432.5
    28 Metalliferous ores and metal scrap3 4814 96042.515 72216 5995.6
    29 Crude animal and vegetable materials3823943.11 2921 43010.6
    3 Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials8 6337 463-13.526 72331 18616.7
    32 Coal, coke and briquettes4334739.31 5771 98225.7
    33 Petroleum, petroleum products5 6955 7290.617 62124 05936.5
    334 Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude); preparations, n.e.s., containing by weight 70% or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparation5 2884 797-9.314 52517 25418.8
    34 Gas , natural and manufactured1591696.1769606-21.2
    342 Liquefied propane and butane9412734.5568419-26.3
    35 Electric current2 3461 092-53.56 7564 539-32.8
    4 Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes1 046866-17.33 2753 72713.8
    41 Animal oils and fats449426-5.31 1311 68749.2
    42 Fixed vegetable fats and oils, crude, refined or fractionated486396-18.51 9151 894-1.1
    43 Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed11144-60.4229146-36.3
    5 Chemicals and related products n.e.s.8 4767 761-8.436 41436 274-0.4
    51 Organic chemicals8801 08323.14 0294 3056.9
    52 Inorganic chemicals1 058841-20.53 7264 24714.0
    53 Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials372337-9.41 4471 4681.4
    54 Medicinal and pharmaceutical products2 1271 934-9.011 3898 999-21.0
    55 Essential oils and resinoids etc8178979.93 2623 83717.6
    56 Fertilizers604378-37.41 9212 22015.6
    57 Plastics in primary forms616471-23.52 5842 201-14.8
    58 Plastics in non-primary forms7908122.82 8743 0586.4
    59 Chemical materials and products, n.e.s.1 2121 007-16.95 1825 93914.6
    6 Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material10 22610 001-2.242 98942 165-1.9
    61 Leather, leather manufactures, furskins313615.3188158-15.9
    62 Rubber manufactures, n.e.s.5795973.22 3882 5898.4
    63 Cork and wood manufactures752726-3.53 2623 095-5.1
    64 Paper, paperboard and manufactures thereof7287776.73 1623 55712.5
    65 Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles878852-2.93 5983 6290.9
    66 Non-metallic mineral manufactures, n.e.s.947920-2.93 8854 1526.9
    67 Iron and steel1 6151 77910.26 5867 0537.1
    68 Non-ferrous metals1 5781 042-33.95 7664 356-24.5
    69 Manufactures of metals, n.e.s.3 1183 2724.914 15413 576-4.1
    7 Machinery and transport equipment23 02728 71124.7109 576124 93614.0
    71 Power generating machinery and equipment9221 66981.14 5345 61623.9
    72 Machinery for special industries2 4072 97023.49 64412 88533.6
    73 Metal working machinery14123465.462198959.2
    74 General industrial machinery and equipment3 1484 29036.313 31318 23036.9
    75 Office machines, data processing machines1 7511 378-21.37 2517 4683.0
    76 Telecommunications apparatus and equipment2 2412 215-1.19 84511 14213.2
    77 Electrical machinery and apparatus4 0264 63915.216 80319 86718.2
    78 Road vehicles7 30810 18739.432 64543 36032.8
    781 Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons4 4346 28641.821 03426 96428.2
    79 Other transport equipment including ships1 0831 1304.414 9205 378-64.0
    8 Miscellaneous manufactured articles10 0989 733-3.642 08544 2615.2
    81 Prefabricated buildings810788-2.73 7163 240-12.8
    82 Furniture and parts thereof1 7001 533-9.87 1306 611-7.3
    83 Travel goods, handbags etc.19021010.574987316.4
    84 Articles of apparel and accessories2 0801 836-11.78 5048 6481.7
    85 Footwear597499-16.42 2552 64317.2
    87 Professional and scientific instruments1 4391 69617.96 4357 25012.7
    88 Photographic and optical goods3163376.61 2871 3867.7
    89 Miscellaneous manufactured articles, n.e.s2 9672 834-4.512 00813 61013.3
    9 Other commodities and transactions12415021.243669759.6
    91 Postal packages not classified according to kind00.00.
    93 Special transactions and commodities not classified according to kind517854.0145388167.0
    96 Coin (other than gold coin), not being legal tender612115.3212831.7
    97 Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold, ores and concentrates)6759-11.52702814.0
    Explanation of symbols
  • Exports of goods, main groups by SITC. Month and so far this year
    Exports of goods, main groups by SITC. Month and so far this year
    NOK MillionChange in per centNOK MillionChange in per cent
    April 2022April 2023April 2022 -April 2023So far this yearApril 2022 -April 2023
    April 2022April 2023
    Total186 257153 587-17.5783 155658 253-15.9
    Of which:
    Crude oil (part of SITC 333)43 92945 6013.8176 780170 858-3.3
    Natural gas (SITC 343)92 30052 983-42.6393 797249 288-36.7
    Natural gas condensates (part of SITC 333)97316225.86061 542154.5
    Ships and oil platforms (part of SITC 793)00.1 014469-53.7
    Mainland exports49 93254 6879.5210 958236 09711.9
    0 Food and live animals11 90513 48013.247 32956 37919.1
    00 Live animals other than animals of div.033553.2162450.2
    01 Meat and meat preparations212624.89311119.7
    02 Dairy products and birds' eggs7021-69.932981-75.3
    03 Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and prep. thereof11 05712 55613.644 20352 52718.8
    04 Cereals and cereal preparations5348-9.021527628.8
    05 Vegetables and fruit1743159.76512694.0
    06 Sugars, sugar prepatations and honey64-24.8172547.8
    07 Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices314544.715722543.1
    08 Feeding stuff for animals (not cereals)43050818.01 2881 95852.0
    09 Miscellaneous edible products2162223.09471 0258.2
    1 Beverages and tobacco8278-4.53503674.8
    11 Beverages8175-6.93473583.4
    12 Tobacco and tobacco manufactures13272.739159.1
    2 Crude materials, inedible, except fuels2 2392 58815.68 8289 4727.3
    21 Hides, skins and furskins, raw172546.011413216.2
    22 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits00-76.142-57.0
    23 Crude rubber32-35.9152776.1
    24 Wood, lumber and cork549543-1.22 0622 2559.3
    25 Pulp and waste paper27030513.11 2031 39215.7
    26 Textile fibres and their waste182431.5738820.3
    27 Crude fertilizers and crude minerales42348113.81 4651 78021.5
    28 Metalliferous ores and metal scrap9171 17628.23 7553 646-2.9
    29 Crude animal and vegetable materials4132-20.81371519.9
    3 Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials144 317108 611-24.7612 910462 872-24.5
    32 Coal, coke and briquettes10-52.6324-88.8
    33 Petroleum, petroleum products47 34651 2688.3197 421195 369-1.0
    334 Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude); preparations, n.e.s., containing by weight 70% or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparation3 2335 28563.519 79022 69614.7
    34 Gas , natural and manufactured94 59454 736-42.1403 277256 456-36.4
    342 Liquefied propane and butane2 1221 519-28.48 7136 626-24.0
    35 Electric current2 3762 6079.712 18011 044-9.3
    4 Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes32445540.31 3081 77035.3
    41 Animal oils and fats13523574.357199073.4
    42 Fixed vegetable fats and oils, crude, refined or fractionated788812.3375285-24.0
    43 Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed11113218.836249536.6
    5 Chemicals and related products n.e.s.6 0576 3234.427 06328 1604.1
    51 Organic chemicals7321 16158.74 5835 72424.9
    52 Inorganic chemicals1 1151 1634.35 1105 3454.6
    53 Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials188153-19.0813751-7.7
    54 Medicinal and pharmaceutical products62870812.82 8093 37320.1
    55 Essential oils and resinoids etc17520617.475487415.9
    56 Fertilizers1 ::::::
    57 Plastics in primary forms55170227.32 7133 09914.3
    58 Plastics in non-primary forms16819012.964778020.5
    59 Chemical materials and products, n.e.s.2 5002 041-18.49 6338 213-14.7
    6 Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material12 64210 790-14.648 22949 9293.5
    61 Leather, leather manufactures, furskins98-11.94742-9.8
    62 Rubber manufactures, n.e.s.559777.825939954.1
    63 Cork and wood manufactures177169-4.77878376.4
    64 Paper, paperboard and manufactures thereof58866713.42 5762 90112.6
    65 Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles17621723.67671 02333.3
    66 Non-metallic mineral manufactures, n.e.s.17620114.075294125.2
    67 Iron and steel2 1491 441-33.07 0167 2753.7
    68 Non-ferrous metals8 4847 249-14.632 50630 168-7.2
    69 Manufactures of metals, n.e.s.829741-10.53 5196 34380.2
    7 Machinery and transport equipment6 1498 10131.726 21535 16534.1
    71 Power generating machinery and equipment5451 04892.31 9213 932104.7
    72 Machinery for special industries1 0921 1253.13 6485 05638.6
    73 Metal working machinery436244.016828972.2
    74 General industrial machinery and equipment1 2331 60330.15 4416 59121.1
    75 Office machines, data processing machines32241428.41 4741 94331.8
    76 Telecommunications apparatus and equipment47970547.22 1002 89637.9
    77 Electrical machinery and apparatus1 2871 53819.65 3487 05732.0
    78 Road vehicles7331 27573.83 4905 22349.6
    79 Other transport equipment including ships414329-20.42 6252 177-17.0
    8 Miscellaneous manufactured articles2 4023 01225.410 35213 56331.0
    81 Prefabricated buildings147134-9.357078938.3
    82 Furniture and parts thereof258228-11.61 3481 248-7.4
    83 Travel goods, handbags etc.172016.0649242.4
    84 Articles of apparel and accessories16220728.074591623.0
    85 Footwear445421.418325740.5
    87 Professional and scientific instruments8591 33855.83 7765 25139.1
    88 Photographic and optical goods202943.510214541.5
    89 Miscellaneous manufactured articles, n.e.s8951 00312.13 5634 86636.6
    9 Other commodities and transactions1401506.75715771.2
    91 Postal packages not classified according to kind00.00.
    93 Special transactions and commodities not classified according to kind2383.481025.9
    96 Coin (other than gold coin), not being legal tender10-78.421-39.5
    97 Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold, ores and concentrates)1381476.35615660.9
    1Due to confidentiality in commodity group 56, this group can not be published separately. This group is included in group 59.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Mainland exports by county of production, commodity groups by the SITC. Year. NOK million
    Mainland exports by county of production, commodity groups by the SITC. Year. NOK million
    2022
    Total mainland exportsDistribution by the SITC
    Food, beverages and tobacco (SITC 0 and 1)Fish (subgroup 03 of SITC 0)Crude materials except fuels (SITC 2 and 4)Fuels (SITC 3)Chemicals and related products n.e.s (SITC 5)Manufactured goods (SITC 6)Machinery and transport equipment (SITC 7)Miscellanous manufactured articles (SITC 8)
    The whole country684 858158 950146 49231 894141 68085 990143 27487 89535 175
    County of production
    Viken45 2132 8052474 9024215 2837 28310 8874 011
    Oslo12 22782015269947 3553051 9611 083
    Innlandet15 2353702092 476204713 4434 6043 852
    Agder48 88340529284816 43636 9853 699510
    Rogaland54 4188 6147 4402 92420 9271 38914 5964 7021 266
    Vestland138 66930 11829 0133 37068 9872 63926 3935 5751 587
    Møre og Romsdal58 02528 81626 4932 7208413 58215 4333 8132 820
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage42 90026 56225 9841 6482::1 5781 952
    Nordland - Nordlánnda51 37024 94824 4481 8490:15 962:51
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku26 33823 28822 550520475281 9177139
    Svalbard92000920000
    Jan Mayen000000000
    Norwegian goods produced in several counties61 7578 9528 2646 49444 824449140689208
    Re-exports of goods produced abroad1 67 3791 3992941 3064 6414 0127 02236 86612 134
    County not stated1 2 13 3201 4961 058622171 0561 6715 6252 835
    1County of production is defined as the county for the major value added. When the exports consists of a mix of goods from different counties, and the county of production is hard to state, the definition Norwegian goods produced in several counties is used. In the case when the value of an imported intermediate good is more than doubled, the good is considered as produced in Norway. In the opposite it is considered as exports of goods produced abroad.
    2County not stated implies no information about county of production is available.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Imports and exports of goods, by trade areas, continents and selected countries. Year. NOK Million
    Imports and exports of goods, by trade areas, continents and selected countries. Year. NOK Million
    ExportsImportsTrade balance
    202220222022
    Total2 631 6701 030 5951 601 075
    Trade areas
    Nordic countries293 141205 91587 226
    EFTA14 92012 5682 352
    EU1 1 797 417572 8101 224 607
    OECD2 382 644629 6061 753 038
    Developing countries133 535228 289-94 754
    LDC - least developed countries4 5417 118-2 578
    Continents and countries
    Europe2 394 851660 1671 734 684
    Belgium199 54621 569177 977
    Denmark63 35147 79615 555
    Estonia2 3407 574-5 234
    Finland59 54723 48636 061
    France247 86328 691219 171
    Greece5 3661 0524 314
    Ireland6 0365 620416
    Iceland10 5564 2396 317
    Italy23 20527 432-4 227
    Lithuania20 65112 6398 012
    Netherlands167 53943 706123 833
    Poland59 19735 05324 144
    Portugal7 6594 5183 141
    Romania2 1065 666-3 560
    Russia2 30917 525-15 216
    Slovakia1 1423 548-2 406
    Spain23 78620 9772 809
    United Kingdom563 70943 896519 813
    Switzerland4 3598 233-3 873
    Sweden157 792129 81727 975
    Czech Republic2 98213 029-10 048
    Türkiye11 1338 9732 160
    Germany736 535117 455619 081
    Hungary1 3615 320-3 960
    Austria4 6617 201-2 540
    Other countries in Europe10 12015 152-5 032
    Asia120 491220 722-100 231
    Hong Kong2 9431 5391 404
    India5 13910 038-4 899
    Japan9 60515 871-6 265
    China51 437126 583-75 146
    Malaysia1 7634 374-2 611
    Singapore4 89111 189-6 298
    South Korea16 1179 4986 619
    Taiwan3 3487 099-3 752
    Thailand4 9245 391-467
    Vietnam3 1199 901-6 782
    Other countries in Asia17 20519 239-2 034
    Northern, Central America and the Caribbean70 663104 646-33 983
    Canada10 77131 086-20 315
    United States50 24364 495-14 252
    Other countries in North- and Central America9 6499 065584
    South America13 39328 130-14 736
    Brazil9 14417 263-8 119
    Chile1 7952 593-798
    Peru2302 800-2 570
    Other countries in South-America2 2245 474-3 249
    Africa28 69713 88514 812
    Angola1 171991 072
    Botswana1112-112
    South Africa1 0044 553-3 549
    Other countries in Africa26 5219 12117 401
    Oceania3 5743 046528
    Australia2 8642 601263
    New Zealand48244041
    Other countries in Oceania2285223
    1Figures for EU is without Great Britain from February 2020 on.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Imports and exports of goods (imports excl. ships and oil platforms and mainland exports), by trade areas, continents and selected countries. Year. NOK Million
    Imports and exports of goods (imports excl. ships and oil platforms and mainland exports), by trade areas, continents and selected countries. Year. NOK Million
    Mainland exportsImports excluding ships and oil platformsTrade balance
    202220222022
    Total684 8581 021 500-336 642
    Trade areas
    Nordic countries142 761205 787-63 025
    EFTA14 92012 5362 384
    EU1 405 821572 119-166 298
    OECD483 238628 533-145 295
    Developing countries100 345227 844-127 499
    LDC - least developed countries4 5417 118-2 578
    Continents and countries
    Europe494 290659 095-164 804
    Belgium19 14721 569-2 421
    Denmark45 98947 706-1 718
    Estonia2 3407 574-5 234
    Finland11 41423 486-12 072
    France23 65728 691-5 034
    Greece2 2281 0521 176
    Ireland6 0365 620416
    Iceland10 5564 2076 350
    Italy15 06027 432-12 372
    Lithuania6 82212 623-5 801
    Netherlands66 15443 13223 021
    Poland29 73335 053-5 320
    Portugal6 8984 5182 380
    Romania1 4985 666-4 168
    Russia2 30917 525-15 216
    Slovakia1 1423 548-2 406
    Spain19 13920 977-1 838
    United Kingdom57 18343 89613 287
    Switzerland4 3598 233-3 873
    Sweden73 455129 811-56 356
    Czech Republic2 98213 029-10 048
    Türkiye8 7608 623137
    Germany61 834117 455-55 621
    Hungary1 3615 320-3 960
    Austria4 6617 201-2 540
    Other countries in Europe9 57315 148-5 575
    Asia85 130212 700-127 570
    Hong Kong2 9431 5391 404
    India4 22810 038-5 810
    Japan9 60515 169-5 564
    China22 713126 583-103 870
    Malaysia1 7634 374-2 611
    Singapore3 8563 964-107
    South Korea13 1139 4983 614
    Taiwan3 3487 099-3 752
    Thailand4 9245 391-467
    Vietnam3 1199 901-6 782
    Other countries in Asia15 51819 144-3 626
    Northern, Central America and the Caribbean60 887104 646-43 759
    Canada4 70131 086-26 385
    United States49 98564 495-14 510
    Other countries in North- and Central America6 2019 065-2 864
    South America12 41228 130-15 717
    Brazil9 14417 263-8 119
    Chile1 3482 593-1 245
    Peru2302 800-2 570
    Other countries in South America1 6905 474-3 783
    Africa28 69513 88514 811
    Angola1 171991 072
    Botswana1112-112
    South Africa1 0044 553-3 549
    Other countries in Africa-9 0179 12117 400
    Oceania3 4443 046398
    Australia2 8642 601263
    New Zealand48244041
    Other countries in Oceania98593
    1Figures for EU is without Great Britain from February 2020 on.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Export of fish, by species. Year
    Export of fish, by species. Year1
    Million NOKChange in per cent
    202120222021 - 2022
    Total116 557146 49225.7
    Salmon2 81 211105 62230.1
    Cod9 87112 26824.3
    Herring4 2223 893-7.8
    Mackerel5 8926 2686.4
    Coalfish2 5323 63643.6
    Haddock1 6311 97421.0
    Trout4 0465 01423.9
    Shrimps3 :::
    Halibut9581 23428.8
    Ling33441223.4
    Cusk20323013.3
    Redfish43555627.8
    Other fish2 1112 49118.0
    Other crustacean/ mollusc3 1122 893-7.0
    1Within the SITC classification group 03 'Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates', Statistics Norway has grouped everything by species based on the product groups in the HS nomenclature. Some discrepancies may occur since not all product groups are specified by species. The group 'Other fish' is the sum of the remaining product groups under SITC 03.
    2Salmon contains more than the weekly figures of exports of salmon, fillets and other prepared salmon is also included.
    3Due to confidentiality in group “Shrimps” from 2013 on, exports in this group can not be published separately. This group is therefore included in commodity group “Other crustaceous animals except shrimps and mollusk”.
    Explanation of symbols
  • First revision of yearly figures of imports and exports. Commodity groups by SITC
    First revision of yearly figures of imports and exports. Commodity groups by SITC
    ImportsExports
    NOK MillionChange in per centNOK MillionChange in per cent
    2022
    TOTAL
    Of which:1 030 5951.22 631 6701.2
    Crude oil5 81737.9555 6171.3
    Natural gas, whether or not liquefied4940.01 378 1401.6
    Natural gas condensates1563.44 5146.6
    Ships and oil platforms9 0955.88 5416.7
    Goods excl. ships and oil platforms1 021 5000.32 6231.2
    Mainland exports..684 8580.2
    0 Food and live animals67 0120.0157 7980.0
    00 Live animals other than animals of div.033580.0850.0
    01 Meat and meat preparations2 1210.03240.0
    02 Dairy products and birds' eggs2 193-0.18760.0
    03 Fish, crustaceans, molluscs and prep. thereof5 4640.0146 4920.0
    04 Cereals and cereal preparations8 2190.07280.0
    05 Vegetables and fruit15 5280.0226-0.4
    06 Sugars, sugar prepatations and honey2 2590.0640.0
    07 Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices5 9600.04840.0
    08 Feeding stuff for animals (not cereals)18 4120.25 8545.6
    09 Miscellaneous edible products6 4990.02 664-6.1
    1 Beverages and tobacco14 5170.01 1530.0
    11 Beverages9 7670.01 1220.0
    12 Tobacco and tobacco manufactures4 7510.0310.0
    2 Crude materials, inedible, except fuels74 6740.027 3450.0
    21 Hides, skins and furskins, raw470.03010.0
    22 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits2 9750.070.0
    23 Crude rubber1930.0540.0
    24 Wood, lumber and cork7 2520.06 1720.0
    25 Pulp and waste paper6450.04 0680.0
    26 Textile fibres and their waste182-0.2256-0.1
    27 Crude fertilizers and crude minerales6 0610.05 262-0.1
    28 Metalliferous ores and metal scrap53 5590.010 7740.0
    29 Crude animal and vegetable materials3 7600.0451-0.2
    3 Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials110 4381.42 079 9511.4
    32 Coal, coke and briquettes5 728-2.6103821.3
    33 Petroleum, petroleum products80 2942.1632 7521.2
    334 Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (other than crude); preparations, n.e.s., containing by weight 70% or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparation68 0130.071 9500.0
    34 Gas , natural and manufactured2 2830.01 402 3301.6
    342 Liquefied propane and butane1 7780.021 8270.5
    35 Electric current22 1330.044 7660.0
    4 Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes15 6820.14 5490.0
    41 Animal oils and fats5 8760.02 2860.4
    42 Fixed vegetable fats and oils, crude, refined or fractionated8 6900.29010.0
    43 Animal or vegetable fats and oils, processed1 1160.01 362-0.5
    5 Chemicals and related products n.e.s.114 6750.085 9900.0
    51 Organic chemicals13 6140.015 1660.0
    52 Inorganic chemicals13 3260.016 6710.5
    53 Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials4 5690.02 3420.0
    54 Medicinal and pharmaceutical products30 8160.08 9420.0
    55 Essential oils and resinoids etc10 5420.52 5070.0
    56 Fertilizers1 7 4250.0::
    57 Plastics in primary forms7 916-0.38 6700.0
    58 Plastics in non-primary forms8 756-0.22 2440.0
    59 Chemical materials and products, n.e.s.17 7100.08 342-0.4
    6 Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material132 9920.0143 2740.6
    61 Leather, leather manufactures, furskins700-0.11550.0
    62 Rubber manufactures, n.e.s.8 0090.0959-0.5
    63 Cork and wood manufactures10 3690.02 3610.0
    64 Paper, paperboard and manufactures thereof10 3990.08 3110.3
    65 Textile yarn, fabrics, made-up articles11 008-0.12 4120.0
    66 Non-metallic mineral manufactures, n.e.s.13 117-0.12 392-0.1
    67 Iron and steel21 3500.023 5093.5
    68 Non-ferrous metals15 1040.092 6600.0
    69 Manufactures of metals, n.e.s.42 9360.010 5150.0
    7 Machinery and transport equipment363 1860.794 9110.9
    71 Power generating machinery and equipment14 118-0.18 1860.0
    72 Machinery for special industries32 276-0.111 808-0.2
    73 Metal working machinery2 260-0.15840.0
    74 General industrial machinery and equipment43 938-0.217 293-0.1
    75 Office machines, data processing machines23 745-0.14 7470.1
    76 Telecommunications apparatus and equipment34 505-0.37 0960.0
    77 Electrical machinery and apparatus58 143-0.119 947-0.1
    78 Road vehicles122 5330.011 511-0.2
    79 Other transport equipment including ships31 6699.513 7377.0
    8 Miscellaneous manufactured articles135 904-0.135 1750.6
    81 Prefabricated buildings11 6700.01 854-0.2
    82 Furniture and parts thereof20 802-0.14 010-0.9
    83 Travel goods, handbags etc.2 695-0.12181.5
    84 Articles of apparel and accessories28 660-0.12 3493.7
    85 Footwear8 058-0.16423.2
    87 Professional and scientific instruments21 000-0.513 5970.0
    88 Photographic and optical goods4 233-0.23380.1
    89 Miscellaneous manufactured articles, n.e.s38 7860.112 1671.3
    9 Other commodities and transactions1 5150.01 5250.0
    91 Postal packages not classified according to kind00.000.0
    93 Special transactions and commodities not classified according to kind6370.0190.0
    96 Coin (other than gold coin), not being legal tender51-0.2150.0
    97 Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold, ores and concentrates)8260.01 4900.0
    1Due to confidentiality commodity group 56 is included in commodity group 59.
    Explanation of symbols

Norwegian import and export - all countries and commodity numbers 1988-2020. 

Complete datasets corresponding to Statbank table 08801 for download as CSV.

About the statistics

The external trade statistics comprise the development in Norway's trade with other countries in terms of value and volume figures. Aggregated as well as detailed imports and exports figures between Norway and partner countries, trade regions and continents are provided.

Imports and exports
Imports comprise mainly foreign manufactured goods entering Norway. This can also include re-importation of originally Norwegian-produced goods and processed goods. Exports comprise domestically produced goods sent out of Norway, i.e. the Norwegian statistical territory as defined in Section of population. Also included are reexportation of originally foreign-produced goods and processed goods.

Trade in goods is based on the physical movement of goods across borders, but for some items, such as ships, oil platforms and aircraft, trading often takes place without the occurrence of such movement. Whether there has been an import or export of such goods is therefore determined based on whether a change in economic ownership has taken place cf. also described in the Section of population. Economic ownership is defined as the person entitled to claim the economic benefit and who has the legal responsibility for the risk of the item.

Mainland exports
As from March 2013, the statistics on external trade in goods will use the term mainland exports on the exportation of goods other than crude oil, natural gas, natural gas condensates, ships and oil platforms. Previously, we also used the term traditional goods for these exports, as well as for imports excluding ships and oil platforms. (Balance of payments and the research department still use the term traditional goods. The balance of payments also includes items such as naphtha, propane and butane in its collective term crude oil and natural gas, external trade in goods does not.)

Country
Country of origin is used for imports. With regard to exports, the country of destination is used.

For raw materials, the country of origin is determined according to where the goods are produced. For manufactured goods (processed and refined goods), this is the country in which the goods have obtained the form they have at the time of import. The country of destination is defined as the country, which, on the date of export, is the last known country for which the goods are intended.

For more specific principles in relation to country of origin, the rule for ships, aircraft and oil platforms is that country of origin is the country that previously owned the goods (economic ownership). For Norwegian-produced goods sold abroad and subsequently bought in Norway, the country from which the goods are imported shall be given as the country of origin (manufacturing country).

Mode of transport
Mode of transport is defined as the means of transportation used when goods cross the border, either by import or export (in the Database for Standard Classifications there is a detailed description of mode of transport).

Quantity
For most goods, the quantity is expressed in kilograms (weight excluding packaging), except for ships and electricity, which are measured by gross tonnes and kWh respectively. However, for many goods, the quantity is also available in a different unit of measurement, such as pieces, barrels, cubic metres, carat, litres, pairs etc.

Statistical value
Statistical value is the value when crossing the Norwegian border. Duties, VAT and other taxes are not included in the statistical value.

Upon import, the value should be set to the CIF (Cost Insurance Freight) value, i.e. the value of the goods at the Norwegian border, including the costs associated with the delivery of goods to the border, transport costs and insurance. Similarly, for exports it is the value at the Norwegian border, including the costs associated with transporting it there, called FOB (Free On Board) value. CIF and FOB are two types of delivery terms called Incoterms. The delivery terms are an agreement between buyer and seller as to who bears the risk, responsibility and cost of transportation of the goods to the agreed place. In the Database for Standard Classifications there is an overview of the different delivery terms.

For crude oil exported by ship directly from installations on the Norwegian continental shelf, the value upon departure from the installation is used. In the case of crude oil and natural gas that is piped abroad, this value is determined based onon when it leaves the Norwegian continental shelf. The value of transport in international waters and into a terminal abroad is regarded as export of services.

The statistical value of exports and imports of ships is the transfer value including takeover of debt. With regard toto fish landed abroad (exported) by Norwegian vessels and caught outside the Norwegian customs border, the statistical value is the value of the fish paid to the fishing operator upon the sale of stock (minus the sales organisation fee).

County of production
The county of production is defined as the county in which the added value is greatest.

Classification of goods
The classification by HS (the international customs and statistics nomenclature, the Harmonized System) is a 6-digit grouping of goods organised primarily according to the material characteristics of goods at the time of crossing the border. Only in exceptional cases is the later use of the goods of any significance to the classification. The WCO (World Customs Organization) is responsible for this nomenclature.

The Norwegian customs tariff is based on the HS, but has two more digits, which are national codes. The 7th digit reflects national customs divisions/tariff rates (bound in the WTO - World Trade Organization). The 8th digit is used to cover the national statistical needs and and among others the interests of the Norwegian Agricultural Authority and Ministry of Foreign Affairs interests with regard to import and export regulations. In some cases, the 8th digit is also used to distinguish between goods subject to duties and/or fees. The Norwegian version is published annually on our website along with a text version of the nomenclature developed by Statistics Norway. The detailed commodity list, which includes all commodity numbers, also provides information about the validity of each commodity number.

Due to technological developments and changes in international trade, the HS nomenclature is normally updated every 5 years – with the most recent implementation on 1 January 2012. In addition, minor changes are made in the Norwegian customs tariff every year. The EU also uses the nomenclature of the HS in its publication of foreign trade figures. However, the EU version (available at Eurostat's website); the Combined Nomenclature (CN) - which also has eight digits - is more detailed than the Norwegian version. As mentioned previously, only the first 6 digits are common internationally.

When publishing external trade figures, the UN Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) is mainly used. Here the goods are grouped by level of processing (raw materials, semi-finished and finished goods). As from 1988 to 2006, the SITC-Rev.3 (unstats.un.org) is used, but as of 2007 the SITC-Rev. 4 (available at unstats.un.org as PDF) is used.

The classification BEC (Broad Economic Categories) (at unstats.un.org); the UN classification of commodities by end use, which is based on the SITC, is also used to some extent. This classification is not considered to be a "standard classification" in the same way as for example the SITC, and it is officially acknowledged that countries may have their own version of this grouping in order to satisfy national needs. The Norwegian version of this classification can be found in the Database for Standard Classifications.

The various nomenclatures are listed on the UN’s website, as well as correspondence tables between the different nomenclatures HS, SITC and BEC and their different versions.

The product classification CPA divides goods by industry group, and in external trade we use extracts from this. CPA (Statistical Classification of Productivity by Activity in the European Community) is the EU's central Product by Activity classification. It is a product group that is closely linked to industry, i.e. distinctive products within each activity can be linked to the activity classification NACE Rev.2.

Grouping by country
The Norwegian list of countries used follows the international standard ISO-3166. EU countries use the same standard, except for some deviations of less importance.

In the external trade publications these country groupings are frequently used:

  • Nordic countries - trade with Sweden, Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Åland and Iceland
  • EFTA - trade with Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein
  • EU – in the Database for standard classifications current member states at any given time is available
  • OECD - for current member states at any given time see the OECD's website
  • Developing countries – as from 2007, the figures are according to the OECD’s DAC (DAC stands for Development Assistance Committee) for definitions of countries at any given time that are recognised as recipients of official foreign aid. The DAC list also includes a section on LDCs (Least Developed Countries - defined by the UN) - which we also use in the statistics.
    (Until 2006, these countries were defined as developing countries in the Norwegian trade statistics: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Macedonia, Malta, Slovenia - Africa except South Africa - Asia excluding Japan, North and South America except USA, Canada and Greenland - Oceania except Australia and New Zealand.)

Name: External trade in goods
Topic: External economy

15 June 2023

Division for External Trade Statistics

Statistics on imports and exports of goods are published at country level. Export figures are also given by county of production.

Monthly figures are released on the 15th of the month after the observation period (the previous month), or the first subsequent working day. With every new release, all the previous monthly figures are updated in every publication.

For more information about Revisions, please see Accuracy and Reliability.

Reports are sent to the EU statistical office (Eurostat), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations (UN).

Non-revised and revised micro data are stored in accordance with Statistics Norway's guidelines for storing computer files (DataDok).

The purpose of the external trade statistics is to provide 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 of external trade in goods have been published since 1913 (value figures were published for the first time in 1866).

With regard to essential changes in the statistics, the commodity classification in line with the Harmonised System that was introduced in 1988 entailed a comprehensive restructuring of the distribution at a detailed level in relation to the earlier CCCN nomenclature (the Customs Cooperation Council Nomenclature).

The statistics are mainly financed from State assignments, but also rely to some extent on market income.

The external trade statistics are a part of the national and international statistical system, and are used in the compilation of the national accounts and the balance of payment statistics in Statistics Norway. The statistics are aimed at covering the business sector’s need for data in this area for their planning of production, marketing and sales.

The statistics are also intended for prognoses and analyses performed by public authorities, research institutions and private organisations. International organisations such as the UN´s statistical office, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the statistical office of the EU (Eurostat) and others make use of the information provided in the external trade statistics.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.

The figures for external trade statistics are an important part of the quarterly balance of payments and national accounts and the annual national accounts.

The balance of payments also collects estimates of trade in goods which are transported directly from abroad to the Norwegian continental shelf, imports of fuel and other oil products to Norwegian ships, aircraft and units abroad. Moreover the external account interprets some of the goods from the external trade statistics in goods as a service, such as computer games, software and licenses.

In the publication of the figures for external trade we give figures for crude oil, natural gas and condensates, while the balance of payments use the collective term “crude oil and natural gas”. Terms in foreign accounts also encompass items such as naphtha, propane and butane, while the external trade statistics do not.

In addition to the statistics mentioned, external trade figures are included in many of the other statistics published by Statistics Norway, for example:

Mirror statistics
Mirror statistics, in the context of external trade statistics, refer to a comparison between the statistics of two or more countries: exports of goods from one country should in principle equal the imports of the same goods in the partner country.

However, discrepancies are often identified in these figures for several reasons. Although there are international guidelines for the production of external trade statistics, there may still be differences in what the countries include. An example is differences in the usage of statistical trade systems, general or special trade, which causes delimitations to the statistics content. Countries may also have different methods for data collecting and processing, which can create distortions. Furthermore, some countries collect data from customs authorities and others directly from companies.

Basically, there should be a certain difference in value between the countries, as the exporting country provides the FOB-value while the importing country in addition to this adds costs for insurance and freight all the way to the location of delivery, the CIF-value (see Definitions). Some countries collect data from customs authorities, others directly from companies. A common source of error between countries is caused by different information about which is the country of destination. Different threshold-values for inclusion of data can also create distortions, f.ex. in Norwegian external trade statistics, declarations with value less than NOK 1 000 are excluded from the import statistics. Other countries may have other delimitations. Different practise of confidentiality and demands for confidentiality, inaccurate definitions of certain commodities as well as conscious and unconscious misuse of codes can lead to use of different classification codes between countries.

From a Norwegian point of view, there is a need for comparing external trade data with the corresponding statistics of our main trading partners, principally European countries. It is in this context important to have knowledge of the rules practiced by the individual partners.

The Statistical Office of the European Union, Eurostat, publishes external trade data for EU countries, totally for the Union and separate for each member country. This statistics are produced according to EU regulations, which defines external trade as trade between the European Union trade and third countries. As a consequence of this, exports to countries in the EU from a non EU-member state are recorded as imported to EU in the first country where the goods cross the borders of the European Union. When forwarding the goods to the country of destination, the good is recorded as an item dispatched from the EU-country that first received the goods. Information about the country of origin of the commodity is not included in the records. Several of the EU-countries publishes in addition to the data presented in the Eurostat database, Comext, separately external trade statistics produced after national methodology. For information about this, consult Eurostat's annual report: Quality report on International trade statistics.

EU regulations incorporated into the EEA agreement comprise contractual obligations pursuant toto EC regulations onon data collection and distribution of data to the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat. The current regulations are as follows:

Regulation (EC) No. 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries and repealing of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95

Commission Regulation (EU) No. 92/2010 of 2 February 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No. 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries, as regards data exchange between customs authorities and national statistical authorities, compilation of statistics and quality assessment

Commission Regulation (EU) No. 113/2010 of 9 February 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No. 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries, as regards trade coverage, definition of the data, compilation of statistics on trade by business characteristics and by invoicing currency, and specific goods or movements

Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1106/2012 of 27 November 2012 implementing Regulation (EC) No. 471/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics relating to external trade with non-member countries, as regards the update of the nomenclature of countries and territories

Statistics area and the economic territory
The scope of foreign trade statistics is based on international guidelines from the United Nations Statistical Commission.

The general recommendation is that the statistics should include all goods which add to or subtract from the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports) or leaving (exports) its economic territory. In addition to the geographical dimension, a country's economic territory also includes ships, aircraft and oil platforms owned by national corporations. These are goods that are not necessarily located within the geographic area, but are still viewed as part of the material resources of a country. For these goods external trade is measured by the change of economic ownership.

There are two different statistical trade systems - the general trade system and the special trade system. UN recommends using the general trade system where a country's statistical area coincides with its economic territory. This implies that goods are recorded at the time they enter or leave the economic territory. The special trade system is used when the statistical area covers only a part of the economic territory. Statistics Norway follows, with a few exceptions, the general trade system.

The Norwegian economic territory consists of mainland Norway, Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Norwegian dependencies, territorial waters, including the airspace above these, the economic zone, the Norwegian part of the continental shelf, territorial enclaves abroad (embassies, consulates, military bases, research stations) and Norwegian ships, aircraft and oil platforms.

External trade statistics is mainly based on information drawn from customs declarations. However, the responsible area of the customs authorities only covers mainland Norway and its territorial waters. As a supplement, data on important trade in goods to and from the remaining areas of the economic territory are collected directly from respondents and registers.

The following are defined as statistical area:

Mainland Norway and its territorial waters
Customs declarations contain information on physical flows of goods crossing the customs border. Imports and export that are exempted from ordinary declaration are referred to in the Customs Act §§ 4-10 and 4-11. According to the recommendations from the UN, some flows of goods should be excluded from the statistics. This includes trade in Norwegian goods between the customs area and other parts of the Norwegian economic territory. To the extent possible, trade in foreign goods to and from foreign enclaves, ships, aircraft and oil platforms located in Norway are omitted. To distinguish this type of transactions customs procedure codes from the declarations are used. In general, trade transactions are recorded at the time when the goods enter or leave the customs territory. However there are some exceptions, cf. the treatment of goods in customs warehouses.

There are four different types of customs warehouses. Goods waiting on declearance,can be stored in either a general or a central warehouse. For imports the time of recording is set when the goods are taken out of the warehouse and not when they arrived in the economic territory. This means that the statistical processing of these data follows the special trade principle. However, in practice the time difference between storage and withdrawals from warehouses is usually so small that the statistical processing is considered to be approximately equal to the general trade principle. For the remaining two types of customs warehouse; duty free and storage for further processing, the statistical treatment is according to the general trade system.

Customs declarations of exports and imports of electric current do not provide enough information for statistical purposes, and data is therefore obtained directly from the respondent.

Svalbard and Jan Mayen
Import transported through the Norwegian mainland to Svalbard and Jan Mayen should be declared by customs. Data on exports of coal transported directly from Svalbard are collected directly from the respondents.

The Norwegian part of the continental shelf
Imports via the Norwegian mainland to Norwegian owned installations and vessels that operate on the continental shelf should be declared by customs. Exports of crude oil and natural gas delivered directly from the continental shelf are based on data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the different operators.

Norwegian owned ships, aircraft and oil platforms
Exports and imports of ships, aircraft and oil platforms are based on information from Norwegian ship registers as well as from different respondents. Export of Norwegian goods (excluding bunkers) to foreign ships and aircraft in Norwegian ports and airports are covered by customs declarations.

Data on exports of fish caught by Norwegian fishing vessels outside the customs area and landed abroad is obtained from the Directorate of Fisheries.

In accordance with the UN recommendations the following trade in goods are not included in the statistics:

  • Goods in transit, ie goods attending the Norwegian economic territory to be directly transported to a recipient outside this area
  • Goods traded through intermediate trade, ie goods transported between two foreign countries without entering the Norwegian economic territory
  • Goods physically crossing the country border, but defined as a service (including newspaper subscriptions, accompanied baggage, household goods)
  • Content delivered electronically (including e-books, downloadable games, etc.), defined purely as a service
  • Issued banknotes, securities and monetary gold
  • Samples, gifts and promotional material etc. with a low value
  • Goods for repair or return after repair
  • Goods in unaltered condition in return to vendor (claims etc.) and waste containers, replacement deliveries and free repairs (warranty)
  • Items for temporary use, that are returned within 12 months (exhibition, demonstration, scientific research, loan, professional equipment, transport vehicles in international traffic, containers, equipment in use for the press, radio and television equipment, etc.)
  • Change in ownership of non-financial assets
  • Goods that are damaged on the journey to and from the Norwegian economic territory
  • Satellites equipment moved to and launched in other countries without any change of ownership
  • Goods functioning as means of transport (ship, aircraft, packaging, etc.
  • Waste and scrap without any commercial value

Furthermore goods totalling less than NOK 1 000 are omitted, these goods amounts to less than one per cent of the import and about 0.04 per cent of the export. Imports of goods for less than NOK 200 and exports of goods less than NOK 5.000 (except from goods that are subject to taxes and restrictions) are not subject to declaration by the Customs.

The statistics are mainly based on administrative information obtained from TVINN, which is the Norwegian Customs’ electronic information system for the exchange of customs declarations between businesses and Norwegian Customs. Some data is, however, obtained from other sources, and more information on this can be found in the paragraph on data collection.

Sampling is not not relevant as external trade is a total count of the goods defined in the population.

Data collection

The vast majority of the data is, as mentioned, collected through the Customs’ TVINN register and transmitted electronically to Statistics Norway. However, some additional data, as shown below, is obtained separately.

Exports of crude oil and natural gas in gaseous state
Preliminary and final figures for exported volumes of crude oil and natural gas in gaseous state are collected through monthly reports from the operators and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The prices, however, are obtained via various sources depending on whether they relate to crude oil or natural gas, and whether the data is being collected to compile preliminary or final figures.

From 2013 on, the development in the in gas prices from the producer price index (PPI) used to calculate the preliminary gas prices for foreign trade, while the level will be based on the value determined from the last registered price. PPI obtain figures for natural gas from different open sources for gas prices in the European market.

Preliminary oil prices are based on the reference price of Brent Blend for the current month.

For crude oil, the final prices: quarterly surveys from the licensees, as well as information from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the operators.

For natural gas, final prices: a quarterly average price based on information from a selection of licensees and operators was used until 2019. From 2020 on we have monthly prices also for these figures.

Due to insufficient information about country of destination there are from 2013 on changes in the dissemination of the figures of exports of natural gas in gaseous state. From 2013, country of destination according to these figures will be based on the landing point of the pipelines with natural gas from the Norwegian continental shelf.

Exports of crude oil in pipelines to Great Britain
All exports of Norwegian crude oil that are transported by pipeline to Teeside are registered in the official statistics with the UK as the country of destination. The ownership is Norwegian until the oil is processed in Great Britain, but because a commodity is registered as exported when it physically has crossed the Norwegian border.
After this unstabilized crude oil has gone through a fractionation process, where it is separated into the components of stabilized crude oil, ethane, propane and butane, it is shipped onwards, thus giving a new country distribution. Crude oil has to be stabilized in order to be transported by ship.
Only those shipments regarded as genuine importation into Great Britain is regarded are included in the statistics of Great Britain. All other flows are regarded as being in transit, and therefore excluded.

The figures by country in Statbank table 12780 for “Crude oil, incl. oil by pipelines after processing in Great Britain” shows reallocated figures after country of destination for oil exports by pipe lines (to Great Britain) and by ship to all countries.
Only those shipments regarded as genuine importation into Great Britain is regarded are included in the statistics of Great Britain. All other flows are regarded as being in transit, and therefore excluded.
The fractionation process implies that some of the crude oil disappears, thereby different total figures.

Imports and exports of ships and oil platforms
The data collection for vessels is based on current information from the Norwegian ship registers the Norwegian Ordinary Ship Register (NOR) and the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS).

When it comes to oil platforms, information is collected from the Norwegian ship registers, the Customs’ TVINN register and importer/exporter.

Imports and exports of electricity
Information is received from Statnett. The volume of imports and exports of electricity is measured by the net transfer of the power grid junction point towards foreign countries and is registered every hour. The value of this trade is calculated by multiplying the amount of electricity transferred per hour with Norpools market price for the current hour. Thereafter the figures are aggregated to a monthly level.

Imports and exports of aircraft
For some aircrafts, monthly reports are received from Statistics Sweden, while the rest are obtained through regular declarations in the TVINN system.

Exports of coal from Svalbard
Reports on the export of coal from Svalbard are received yearly from the exporter.

Exports of fish caught by Norwegian vessels outside the Norwegian customs border
Since July 2010, the figures have been obtained from the Directorate of Fisheries (FDIR). Prior to that, the information was gathered through TVINN.

Data editing
Information from customs declarations is subject to statistical controls in the Customs declaration system (TVINN). The controls to check the estimated price, quantity and country were developed by the Customs in cooperation with Statistics Norway.

Data controls at Statistics Norway take place at different levels - some as soon as the data is loaded into the system (automatic recoding of variables). The manual part of the revision consists of different types of validity and probability tests. The former are controls of absolute errors, such as missing transport code, while the other type of test may check unlikely country codes or unreasonably high quantities for a specific type of good. The system aims to intercept the most serious errors in the data. Data collected from sources other than the Customs also undergo similar checks.

Estimations
External trade is based on a total count but some items are excluded, cf. section of population. There is no need for any statistical estimations of current figures, only aggregations, in order to enable us to publish in a timely manner.

The methods and routines used to produce seasonally adjusted figures are described in the chapter About seasonal adjustment.

The Statistics Act § 7 covers the disclosure of information.

The requirements for confidentiality in external trade of goods are practised so that data is suppressed only when the establishment/enterprise has a valid reason for confidential treatment and actively asks for it. Exporters/importers can demand suppression when there are 3 or fewer companies that import or export an item type to a given country, or when a company has a market share of over 90 per cent, or if two firms have a market share of over 95 per cent.This is called "passive confidentiality" and is in line with UN recommendations. This method is used by most countries..

Since Norway has a number of major manufacturers that are dominant in some product areas, some suppression of information exists on the export side. Between 5 and 10 per cent of mainland exports are affected by confidentiality. For imports, it is far less; around 1 per cent. Some commodity areas are more problematic with regard to dissemination, since suppression on highly aggregated levels must be carried out.

The six-digit HS-based commodity classification is subject to revisions due to technological development and also development in the commodity spectres of the international trade. These adjustments are normally made every five years. The most recent HS revision was implemented on 1 January 2012. Furthermore, national adjustments are made every year at the national eight-digit level. These revisions can create breaks in the time series for some commodity numbers. Detailed information about this is available in the yearly Commodity List External Trade. Correspondence tables between the different editions of the HS are available on the UN website.

With regard to the divisions according to the SITC, the current SITC-Rev.4 was introduced in January 2007, when it replaced the previous SITC-Rev.3 (1988-2006). The relation between the figures for the years before and after 2007 can be misleading for some commodity numbers. The degree of influence depends on the value of the commodity numbers that now have a different group affiliation. Correspondence tables between the different editions of the SITC are also available on the UN website.

For the tables that use the CPA nomenclature, the 2008 edition is used for the whole series.

Other elements influencing the comparability over time: The imports and exports of ships and oil platforms in the statistics were extended in 1991 to include transactions that concern vessels under a foreign flag with a Norwegian-registered holding company. Furthermore, the definition of developing countries was changed in 2007, which affects the figures slightly.

The data material in the External trade in goods statistics is very extensive, and at the most detailed level the quality can vary. The quality will be affected by errors in reported data. Collection errors can occur from incorrect values, incomplete information or misinterpretation of data on customs declarations. Examples of this are use of wrong commodity number, country code, county of production or incorrect quantity.

Users of the statistics must therefore consider this when using detailed figures. Commodity numbers with little trade, measured in value, will be more prone to errors than commodity numbers with a lot of trade. Furthermore, the statistical variables weight and quantity have poorer quality than value. Goods with restrictions and trade to particular countries are, however, monitored more closely.

Statistics Norway is required to report detailed figures to Eurostat, and therefore finds it appropriate that the figures are also published to Norwegian users, despite the varying quality.

Other sources of error include late updates, which sometimes occur for the trade with ships and oil platforms. The rules for customs clearance, which entail exemption from the duty to declare for goods with value below a set value, lead to lower figures than the real trade. This is not the best solution for preparation of the national accounts, where these lacking figures are estimated separately.

The calculation of seasonally-adjusted data beyond the usual seasonal effects is adjusted for the fact that trade is distributed unevenly across the week and taking into account the effect of Easter, as described in the section of estimations. However, beyond this nothing in particular is done. Therefore, it would be natural to assume that the seasonally-adjusted December figures should be interpreted more cautiously because of the Christmas holidays.

The export trade statistics is a full count, so there are therefore no non-response errors or sampling errors.

When publishing statistics for a new month of measurement, figures for the previous months in the same year are also revised. Furthermore, the figures for all months of the year are revised twice more: First time in May the following year (year t + 1), before final figures are published in May one year later (year t + 2). See External trade in goods tables in the Statbank in for more information about the size of the revisions.

At the aggregate level, the difference between preliminary monthly figures and revised figures published in May year t + 1 will normally be small for imports and mainland exports. At a detailed level and for individual months, the revisions can be of greater importance, relatively speaking. For oil and gas, larger audits can be experienced, in particular, related to the calculation of oil and gas prices. The revisions of the final publication in year t + 2 will normally be of minor importance, but in some cases relatively significant corrections can also be uncovered in this time perspective.

Monthly and quarterly time series are often characterised by considerable seasonal variations, which might complicate their interpretation. Such time series are therefore subjected to a process of seasonal adjustment in order to remove the effects of these seasonal fluctuations. Once data have been adjusted for seasonal effects by X-12-ARIMA or some other seasonal adjustment tool, a clearer picture of the time series emerges.

More information on seasonal adjustment, metadata on methods.

Many commodities in external trade in goods have a pattern that appear repeatedly at about the same time every year.

An example of seasonal variation for external trade in goods is the export of fish, where the seasonal pattern is influenced by fish species having different fishing seasons and international demands. The export of skrei is highest in February and March, and the salmon export highest towards the end of the year. Another example is the export of natural gas, where the amount exported varies with the winter and summer seasons, due to different demand from European countries.

To be able to follow the underlying development from month to month without being influenced by such variations, the figures are seasonally adjusted.

Pre-treatment is an adjustment for variations caused by calendar effects and outliers.

We follow the European Statistical System (ESS) guidelines on seasonal adjustment (ec.europa.eu) as far as possible. When background information for an outlier is available, the outlier is included as an explanatory variable (regressor) in the model.

For handling the corona crisis in the seasonal adjustment, we follow Eurostat's guidelines (available on Eurostat's web site as PDF), which state that the effect of the corona crisis should not be included in the basis for estimation of seasonal factors.

Calendar adjustment

Calendar adjustment contains both adjustments for trading days effects and for moving holiday effects. Adjustments for trading days means that we adjust the raw data so that both the number of working days since the composition of these can vary from period to period.

Calendar adjustment is carried out on all series that show a significant and plausible calendar effect with RegARIMA procedure (a regression model where the noise term is modelled by an ARIMA model).

Calendar regression variables are processed in accordance with the Norwegian holidays and public holidays.

Methods for trading/working day adjustment

RegARIMA correction is used – in this case, the effect of trading days is estimated in a RegArima framework. The effect of trading days can be estimated by using a correction for the length of the month or leap year, regressing the series on the number of working days etc. In this case, the residuals will have an ARIMA structure.

Correction for moving holidays

Test for moving holidays’ effect of Easter holiday after the X-13-ARIMAs impact modell. Very few series have a significant moving holidays’ effect.

National and EU/euro area calendars

Use of the Norwegian calendar, which considers Norwegian working days and public holidays.

Treatment of outliers

Outliers, or extreme values, are abnormal values of the series.

Series are inspected to identify outliers. Once identified, outliers are explained/modelled using all available information. Outliers for which a clear interpretation exists (changed methodology in data collections, special events and consequences of government policy changes etc.) are included as regressors in the model.

The identified outliers are predefined in pre-adjustment’s model. Program will only search for the last year for outlier. They are detected automatically by the seasonal adjustment tool. The outliers are removed before seasonal adjustment is carried out, and then reintroduced into the seasonally adjusted data.

Model selection

Pre-treatment requires choosing an ARIMA model, as well as deciding whether the data should be log-transformed or not.

Model selection is automatic, by JDemetra+’s established routines.

Decomposition routine

The decomposition routine specifies how the trend, seasonal and irregular components are decomposed. The most common decompositions are the multiplicative, additive or log additive.

We have used an automatic decomposition scheme selection in JDemetra+, and multiplicative decomposition is used for most series in this model.

Choice of seasonal adjustment approach: X-13 method in JDemetra+ (github.io)

Consistency between raw and seasonally adjusted data

In some series it is preferred that, for example, the sum of monthly seasonally adjusted figures for a year should be identical to the sum of monthly figures in the original raw series.

For the external trade statistics, no consistency conditions are applied.

Consistency between aggregate/definition of seasonally adjusted data

In some series, consistency between seasonally adjusted totals and the original series is imposed. For some series there is also a special relationship between the different series, e.g. GDP which equals production minus intermediate consumption.

Due to indirect approach for aggregates, the consistency is automatically fulfilled.

Direct versus indirect approach

Direct seasonal adjustment is performed if every time series, including aggregates, are seasonally adjusted on an individual basis. Indirect seasonal adjustment is performed if the seasonally adjusted estimate for a time series is derived by combining the estimates for two or more directly adjusted series.

A total of 38 seasonally adjusted series are published. Main aggregates such as total imports, total exports, mainland exports are seasonally adjusted indirectly. Furthermore, we have seasonally adjusted import and export series according to the one-digit SITC. All these series are value series. We find seasonal patterns for all these series, except SITC9 where series are adjusted mostly for calendar effects and the results from seasonal adjustment is uncertain.

The important export commodities crude oil, natural gas in gaseous form, fish (SITC03), metals other than iron and steel (SITC68) and electricity (SITC35) are seasonally adjusted for both value and volume, where volume series are direct adjusted and value series are indirectly adjusted.

Horizon for estimating the model and the correction factors

When performing seasonal adjustment of a time series, it is possible to choose the period to be used in estimating the model and the correction factors. Correction factors are the factors used in the pre-treatment and seasonal adjustment of the series.

The entire time series from January 2005 on is used to estimate the model and the correction factors.

General revision policy

Seasonally adjusted data may change due to a revision of the unadjusted (raw) data or the addition of new data. Such changes are called revisions, and there are several ways to deal with the problem of revisions when publishing the seasonally adjusted statistics.

In accordance with recommendations from the ESS guidelines, the models behind the seasonally adjusted figures will be subject to a thorough review once a year.

Concurrent versus current adjustment

Partial concurrent adjustment: the model is identified and estimated yearly, while filters, outliers (last year) and regression parameters are re-identified and estimated continuously as new or revised data become available.

Horizon for published revisions

The revision period for the seasonally adjusted results is limited to 4 years prior to the revision period of the unadjusted data, while older data are frozen.

Evaluation of seasonally adjustment data

A detailed set of graphical, descriptive, non-parametric and parametric criteria defined to assess the relevant characteristics of seasonally adjusted data are used.

Quality measures for seasonal adjustment

A set of available diagnostics within the seasonal adjusted tools and graphical capabilities are used.

A table containing selected quality indicators for the seasonal adjustments is available. The table covers the published industry aggregates for the volume of production. The table is available here: indicators_seasonaladjustment (XLSX)

More information about the quality indicator is found here: metadata on methods: seasonal adjustment (PDF).

Seasonal adjustment of short time series

All series are sufficiently long to perform an optimal seasonal adjustment.

Treatment of problematic series

Following the Corona crisis that started in the 1st quarter of 2020, the seasonal adjustment follows the Eurostat guidelines for how to treat this extraordinary event. The result being that the effect of the Corona crisis is not a part of the foundation of the seasonal patterns. We assume that the seasonal pattern is unchanged, and that we correct for the systematic seasonal variation calculated on data before the corona crisis.

Data availability

Unadjusted figures (original series or raw data) and seasonally adjusted are available.

Contact

Opplysningstjenesten for utenrikshandelen

utenrikshandel@ssb.no