Finnish goods exports to China rising much faster than exports generally

Finnish Customs reports that, while Finnish goods exports overall increased by less than 15 % last year, the value of Finnish goods going to China rose by 27 % to 3.4 billion euros. China's share of goods exports increased by half a percentage point to just under 6 %. Imports from China rose 12 % to 4.5 billion euros, accounting for roughly 7 % of Finland's total imports. Finland's trade deficit with China contracted by 16 % to 1.1 billion euros, but still accounted for nearly half of Finland's total goods trade deficit of 2.5 billion euros.

Finnish Customs noted that over a fifth of Finnish exports to China in 2016 were re-exports, i.e. goods produced in a third country. In 2016, re-exports rose by 17 %, making China Finland's third largest destination for re-exports after Sweden and Russia. The largest re-export category was electrical machinery & equipment.

Statistics Finland's figures show that Chinese accounted for 7 % of the over 3 million foreign travellers visiting Finland last year. These foreign travellers recorded nearly 6.6 million overnight stays in paid lodgings, or 14 % more than in 2016. Overnight stays of Chinese tourists increased by 34 %, more than for any other nationality. Russians, Germans, Swedish and British tourists had more overnight stays than the Chinese, who posted 311,000 overnight stays in Finland last year.

Finnish goods exports to China by category in 2017

Source: Finnish Customs.