China increased its share of Finnish foreign trade last year

BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2016/09

Although the value of Finnish goods exports to China fell 1 % last year to €2.5 billion, the value of imports rose 6 % y o y to €4.0 billion. The total value of Finnish goods exports last year fell by 4 %, while the value of imports declined some 6 %. China is Finland’s fifth-largest trading partner with a 6 % trade share.

The value of Finnish raw-material exports to China exceeded the value of exports in the machinery and equipment category. Raw materials last year accounted for 40 % of all Finnish exports to China. The largest groups were pulp (19 % of total exports) and furs (11 % of exports). The machinery and equipment category, in contrast, shrank to 38 % of exports to China. Chemical products had a 7 % share.

Finland’s imports from China consisted largely of machinery and equipment (52 % of imports) and variety of other finished goods (45 % of imports). Imports of machinery and equipment mainly consisted of consumer electronics. Phones last year accounted for 13 % of Finland’s imports from China and computer equipment 10 %. Finland imports a wide range of Chinese consumer goods. The share of clothing and footwear declined last year slightly to 15 %.

Chinese travellers last year had 182,000 overnight stays in Finnish hotels and inns, an increase of 53,000 overnight stays from 2014. Overnight stays of all foreign travellers in Finland declined slightly. The number of visitors from China last year exceeded the number of Japanese visitors for the first time. However, the Japanese tended to stay longer and thus had more overnight stays than the Chinese. The number of Chinese travellers in Finland doubled in just three years. Today, 5 % of all visitors to Finland are Chinese.

Trends in Finland-China trade
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Source: Finnish Customs.

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