In 2019, the value of exports of services was 693.4 billion ISK and the imports of services 445.2 billion ISK. Therefore, the services trade surplus for the year was 248.2 billion ISK compared with 246.6 billion ISK in 2018 at current exchange rates.
Exports of transportation services decreases by 17.4% between years
The total value of exports for 2019 was 17 billion ISK lower (2.4%) than in 2018 at current rates of exchange. Travel was the largest category of exports in 2019, accounting for 47.3% of total exports of services, showing a 2.7% decrease from the year before at the current exchange rates. Transportation was the second largest category of exports accounting for 28.4% of total exports of services and decreased by 17.4% from 2018. The main reason for the decrease exports of transportation services is the decrease in the value of exports of passenger transport by air.
The export of services to the United States was 29.7% of the total exports of services in 2019. The export to the United States decreased by 9.2% between years at current exchange rates. Export of services to the EU countries was 44.4% of total exports of services and decreased by 1.3% between years for the same period. United Kingdom was the largest trading country within the EU with 11.9% of total exports of services, decreasing by 0.9% between years. However, export of services to the EFTA countries increased by 6.3% between years and accounts for 4.8% of the total services exports.
Imports of other business services decreases by 25.3% between years
The total value of imports for 2019 was 18.6 billion ISK lower (4%) than in 2018 at current rates of exchange. Travel was also the largest category of service imports in 2019 or 43.3% of total imports of services with a decrease of 2.7% from 2018 at current exchange rates. The second largest category was transportation, accounting for 18.8% of total imports of service and increased by 4.7% from the previous year. Import of other business services accounts for 15% of total imports of services and decreased by 25.3% from 2018. The main reason for the sharp decrease of other business services is the decrease of the subcategory operating leasing services.
The largest trading partners, with regard to import of services, were the United States (15.1% of total) and the United Kingdom (14.6% of total). Import of services decreased from both countries, by 8.9% from the United States and by 14.4% from the United Kingdom at current exchange rates. However import of services from Spain increased by 4.6% and account for 7.9% of the total import of services for 2019. The services import from the EU countries accounts for 68.3% of total imports of services and decreased by 4.2% between years.
More detailed categorization of trade in services by EBOPS classification and by countries is available on the Statistics Iceland website.
| Trade in services 2018-2019 by EBOPS classification | ||||||
| 2018 | 2019 | Change between years % | ||||
| Export | Import | Export | Import | Export | Import | |
| Value in million ISK | ||||||
| Total | 710,369.0 | 463,740.4 | 693,402.9 | 445,188.9 | -2.4 | -4.0 |
| 1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned b | 173.0 | 266.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -100.0 | -100.0 |
| 2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e. | 6,861.5 | 21,196.8 | 6,908.2 | 19,650.4 | 0.7 | -7.3 |
| 3. Transport | 238,343.2 | 79,777.7 | 196,789.0 | 83,493.3 | -17.4 | 4.7 |
| 4. Travel | 337,266.8 | 198,183.2 | 328,272.8 | 192,782.7 | -2.7 | -2.7 |
| 5. Construction | 2,265.9 | 4,122.3 | 5,263.1 | 3,711.9 | 132.3 | -10.0 |
| 6. Insurance and pension services | 1,395.6 | 3,020.2 | 1,572.2 | 2,242.4 | 12.7 | -25.8 |
| 7. Financial services | 17,857.3 | 7,144.3 | 14,349.5 | 5,291.3 | -19.6 | -25.9 |
| 8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e. | 27,062.1 | 15,361.6 | 34,971.1 | 12,496.1 | 29.2 | -18.7 |
| 9. Telecommunications, computer and information ser | 37,455.5 | 33,002.2 | 48,138.6 | 40,087.8 | 28.5 | 21.5 |
| 10. Other business services | 36,849.1 | 89,379.7 | 48,506.5 | 66,736.4 | 31.6 | -25.3 |
| 11. Personal, cultural and recreational services | 2,401.0 | 10,116.9 | 6,128.1 | 16,289.2 | 155.2 | 61.0 |
| 12. Government goods and services n.i.e. | 2,437.8 | 2,169.6 | 2,503.9 | 2,407.5 | 2.7 | 11.0 |
| Trade in services 2018-2019 by market areas | ||||||
| 2018 | 2019 | Change between years % | ||||
| Export | Import | Export | Import | Export | Import | |
| Value in million ISK | ||||||
| Total | 710,369.0 | 463,740.4 | 693,402.9 | 445,188.9 | -2.4 | -4.0 |
| EU | 311,980.6 | 317,377.9 | 307,922.3 | 303,991.6 | -1.3 | -4.2 |
| United Kingdom | 83,547.5 | 76,216.4 | 82,828.7 | 65,206.4 | -0.9 | -14.4 |
| Germany | 43,036.1 | 20,261.1 | 44,342.9 | 21,961.6 | 3.0 | 8.4 |
| Denmark | 28,810.9 | 34,771.5 | 22,606.1 | 24,501.0 | -21.5 | -29.5 |
| Spain | 13,334.4 | 33,660.7 | 13,356.2 | 35,222.2 | 0.2 | 4.6 |
| Netherlands | 21,768.1 | 33,486.1 | 20,442.6 | 33,753.9 | -6.1 | 0.8 |
| Other EU Countries | 156,586.1 | 186,128.9 | 158,144.6 | 192,322.6 | 1.0 | 3.3 |
| EFTA | 31,326.2 | 23,407.9 | 33,306.6 | 26,825.5 | 6.3 | 14.6 |
| Other European Countries | 9,366.7 | 13,806.0 | 10,415.8 | 12,322.5 | 11.2 | -10.7 |
| United States | 227,157.6 | 73,659.6 | 206,280.3 | 67,113.9 | -9.2 | -8.9 |
| Asia | 59,879.1 | 17,716.4 | 66,161.0 | 18,099.5 | 10.5 | 2.2 |
| Other Countries | 70,658.8 | 17,772.6 | 69,316.9 | 16,835.9 | -19.9 | 3.1 |