Balance of trade
In the year 2017, the value of exported goods from Iceland amounted to ISK 519,600 million fob and the value of imported goods amounted to ISK 696,100 million fob (ISK 741,300 million cif). Thus there was a trade deficit, calculated on fob value, of ISK 176,500 million as compared with a trade deficit of ISK 108,200 million in 2016, at current rates of exchange.1 The deficit of balance of trade in goods was ISK 161,700 million excluding ships and aircraft, compared with ISK 80,000 million in the year before.
Exports
The total value of exports of goods in 2017 was ISK 17,800 million lower (3.3%) than in the same period the year before at current rates of exchange. Exported manufacturing products contributed 53.9% of total exported goods and their value was 3.5% higher than in the year before. Exports in aluminum and aluminum products had the largest share in exported manufacturing products or 39% of total exports. Marine products contributed 37.9% of the total exports and their value was 15.2% lower than in the same period the year before. There was a decrease in almost all categories for marine products. Frozen fish fillets and fresh fish had the largest share in marine products. Frozen fish fillets were 9.3% of total exports and fresh fish was 8.8% of total exports. Largest trading countries in export of goods were the Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom and 73.4% of all exports went to EU countries
Imports
The total value of imports of goods in 2017 was ISK 50,500 million higher (7.8%) than in the same period the year before, at current rates of exchange. The increase is mainly due to investments in ships and passenger motor cars, imports in processed industrial products as well as fuel and capital goods import. The largest import categories were industrial supplies (26.8%), capital goods (21.4%) and transport equipment (18.8%). The largest trading countries in imports of goods were Germany and Norway and 52.5% of all imports came from EU countries.
Tables
With publishing the 2017 data, three yearly tables of trade in goods have changed on the Statistics Iceland website. New table, Import and export by currencies, has been published and will replace the table Breakdown of external trade by countries and currencies. Yearly SITC3 tables from 1999-2016, both import and export, will be replaced for new yearly SITC3 tables from 2010-2017. These are technical changes and do not impact the underlying data.
| The value of exports and imports in January - December 2016 and 2017 | |||
| Million ISK at current exchange rate | Change on prev. | ||
| Janary - December | year at current | ||
| exch. rates, % | |||
| 2016 | 2017 | Jan - Dec | |
| Exports fob, total | 537,444.8 | 519,612.4 | -3.3 |
| Marine products | 232,237.9 | 197,025.0 | -15.2 |
| Agricultural products | 16,844.5 | 20,239.3 | 20.2 |
| Manufacturing products | 270,407.9 | 279.922.2 | 3.5 |
| Other products | 17,954.6 | 22,426.0 | 24.9 |
| Imports fob, total | 645,611.6 | 696,072.6 | 7.8 |
| Food and beverages | 57,418.8 | 56,753.3 | -1.2 |
| Industrial supplies n.e.s. | 168,494.0 | 186,832.5 | 10.9 |
| Fuels and lubricants | 69,867.6 | 79,911.9 | 14.4 |
| Capital goods (except for transport) | 140,651.0 | 148,858.9 | 5.8 |
| Transport equipment | 120,118.3 | 131,134.5 | 9.2 |
| Consumer goods n.e.s. | 88,542.6 | 92,219.3 | 4.2 |
| Goods n.e.s. | 519.4 | 362,1 | -30.3 |
| Balance of trade | -108,166.8 | -176,460.2 | 63.1 |
¹ Statistics Iceland does no longer publish trade in goods at constant exchange rates. The breakdown of trade in goods by currencies is available on Statistics Iceland’s website.
Monthly figures of external trade for current year are revised together with the release of figures for new months. Annual figures are published in the first half of the year after the end of the reference year. The figures are considered as final at that point of time.