International trade in goods and services: documentation of statistics

The statistics on international trade in goods and services describe exports and imports of goods and services with a broad classification of products and areas at quarterly level. The statistics describe the entire international trade and form a link between goods trade according to the IMTS manual (International Merchandise Trade Statistics) published by Finnish Customs and the BPM manual (Balance of Payments Manual) published by Statistics Finland. For trade in services, the recommendations of the United Nations Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS 2010) are followed.

International trade in goods and services is included in the current account, so the statistics form part of Finland’s balance of payments. Balance of payments statistics are based on Finland’s statutory obligations to produce and report balance of payment statistics to the European Central Bank (ECB) (ECB guidelines ECB/2011/23) and to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union (Commission Regulation (EU) No 555/2012), as well as to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The data are also used to produce data for the rest of the world sector in national accounts.

The services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC) describes exports and imports of services with a rough breakdown by industry, enterprise size, service category, ownership form and region on the annual level. 
The data on services trade by enterprise characteristics are produced following Eurostat's recommendations, the technical document and the Compilers Guide for statistics on Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC). 
 
The balance of payments data are summed up according to the regional division (intra-EU, extra-EU and rest of the world total) and EBOPS main categories into exports and imports. 

The sums of the main categories of the service items of the services trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC) and the statistics on international trade in goods and services match each other.
 

The population of the statistics is formed by institutional units belonging to the Finnish national economy. A unit is a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of predominant economic interest on the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (one year or more) in economic activities on this territory.

The statistical unit is an institutional unit.

An institutional unit is an economic entity characterised by decision-making autonomy in the exercise of its principal function. A resident unit is regarded as constituting an institutional unit in the economic territory where it has its centre of predominant economic interest if it has decision-making autonomy and either keeps a complete set of accounts, or is able to compile a complete set of accounts.
 

The used unit of measure is EUR million.

The statistics describe international trade in goods and services at quarterly level.
Statistics on international trade in goods and services are compiled quarterly. 
Statistics on international trade in services and services trade by enterprise characteristics are compiled yearly
 

The reference area for the statistics is the Finnish national economy.

The statistics cover trade with foreign units of units belonging to the Finnish national economy.

The statistics are compiled in accordance with international statistical standards and the IMF Balance of Payments Manual (6th edition 2009), which ensures comparability of the statistics. In addition, the recommendations of the United Nations Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2010 that are in line with the Balance of Payments Manual are followed. The publication of the renewed statistics began in summer 2016.

Data are available since 2013. New statistics on services trade by enterprise characteristics will be published starting from 2024. Data are available by enterprise characteristics from 2019 onwards.

The data of the statistics on international trade in goods and services are disseminated in a release quarterly. In addition, one month after the release a revision publication is made where the database tables are updated. Thus, the database tables are updated eight times per year in total.

Annual data on international trade in services are published in June and updated in March.
 
Data on services trade by enterprise characteristics are published in June.
 

The statistics on international trade in goods and services are derived from several sources. Therefore, the quality of the source statistics is crucial for the reliability of the statistics. In order to maintain and improve the quality of the statistics, attention has been paid to defining practical inquiry frameworks and the accuracy of registers. The correctness and accuracy of the data are examined regularly.

The main detected sources of error are frame error and measurement error. Frame error is caused by the backwardness of registers when not all respondents are found, and measurement error when the respondents misinterpret the data supply requirement of the inquiry. Finnish statistics are sensitive precisely in terms of frame and measurement errors because Finland has very large international enterprises compared to the size of the national economy.

The data based on annual inquiries are estimated for the quarterly preliminary statistics of the statistical reference year. Thus, the acquisition of data is supplemented over time, which may lead to considerable revisions in the statistics. Finnish Customs gradually corrects monthly data on international trade until the spring of the year following the statistical reference year.

Quarterly data are first published around 1.5 months after the end of the quarter together with a release, and also around 2.5 months after the end of the quarter as a revision publication without a release.

Annual data are completed six months after the end of a year and are disseminated in connection with quarterly data.

The data on services trade by enterprise characteristics are released 18 months after the end of the year and they are distributed in connection with the June release.

There are no delays between the release calendar and the actual release date.

The statistics on international trade in goods and services are available to the extent to which they are reported to the European Central Bank, Eurostat and the International Monetary Fund.
Statistics Finland usually publishes more detailed data than required by the submission programme.

The data of the statistics on international trade in goods and services are geographically comparable due to international statistical standards.

The data of the statistics on international trade in goods and services are classified by country. There may be statistical asymmetries between two countries due to differences in data sources in various countries, for example. Efforts are made to reduce these asymmetries in cooperation with other countries.

The statistics are compiled in accordance with international statistical standards and the IMF Balance of Payments Manual (6th edition 2009), which ensures comparability of the statistics. In addition, the recommendations of the United Nations Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2010 that are in line with the Balance of Payments Manual are followed. The publication of the renewed statistics began in summer 2016.

The definitions and coverage of balance of payments, as defined in the BPM6 manual, are fully harmonised with those in ESA 2010. Consequently, the variables of the statistics on international trade in goods and services are fully consistent with the corresponding national accounts variables. The statistics on international trade in goods and services are part of the balance of payments. National accounts and balance of payments compilation systems are integrated and the data are mainly congruent from 2019 and from 2020 onwards for financial accounts. The most significant differences are related to recording of financial derivatives and income taxes from secondary income.

The international trade statistics published by Finnish Customs differ by definition from international trade in balance of payments terms. The international trade statistics measure international trade across borders and changes in ownership of vessels, while the balance of payments measures changes in ownership.

Services trade by enterprise characteristics is not part of the balance of payments, but its data are coherent by service item with the data on international trade in goods and services. The balance of payments defines the marginal distribution of the data on services trade by enterprise characteristics

The definitions and coverage of balance of payments, as defined in the BPM6 Manual, are fully harmonised with those in ESA 2010. Therefore, balance of payments variables are, in principle, fully coherent with the corresponding national accounts variables. The compilation systems of national accounts and balance of payments are integrated and the data are mainly congruent from 2019 and, in terms of financial accounts, from 2020 onwards. The most significant differences are related to the recording of financial derivatives and income taxes from secondary income.

Statistical data within the data set in question are consistent.

The data of the statistics on international trade in goods and services are mainly based on two data sources:
the international trade statistics and the inquiry on international trade in services and international flows of goods, and data derived from national accounts. Other data are produced by statistical methods based on several data sources.

Finnish Customs collects data on international trade in goods across borders and on some changes in vessel ownership. Statistics Finland’s inquiry on international trade in services and international flows of goods collects data on international trade in services by Finnish enterprises and corporations and on goods trade that does not cross the Finnish border. The data on international trade are supplemented with data derived from national accounts and estimates of international trade by Finnish private persons.

Data on Finland’s cross-border trade with countries outside the EU are derived from the customs clearance system. Statistical data are reported monthly by importers and exporters to Finnish Customs concerning cross-border trade inside the EU according to the Intrastat system.

The sample size of the quarterly inquiry on international trade in services and international flows of goods is around one thousand units and that of the annual inquiry about two thousand units. The quarterly inquiry is raised to correspond to the population, based on the shares of the previous completed annual inquiry. Stratified random sampling (SRS or PPS) is used in the annual inquiry depending on the stratum.

The data on services trade by enterprise characteristics are based on the statistics on international trade in goods and services and the Business Register. The data are produced with statistical methods without separate data collection. The sampling of the inquiries on services and international flows of goods takes into account the data requirements of services trade by enterprise characteristics.

The statistics on international trade in goods and services are compiled from several sources. The sources are direct data collections, administrative files, data derived from statistics or estimated from other sources.

The data are collected quarterly/annually.

The inquiry data are compiled in accordance with the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM).

The data are validated according to the statistical production process in two stages. Statistics Finland’s data collection unit is responsible for checking the unit data of data collections. The checked data are delivered to the balance of payments system for analysis purposes.

Each source data are analysed on an aggregated level. After this, the approved source data are combined and analysed as a whole. If deviating changes or values are detected in the analysis stage, the reason for them is determined and the deviation in question is returned to the unit level check if necessary.

During both checking stages, Statistics Finland ensures consistency with other available statistical data both on the unit level and on the publication level.

The statistics on international trade in goods and services are compiled using direct data collections and data derived from other economic statistics. Finnish Customs collects data on international trade in goods across borders and publishes statistics on international trade. Statistics Finland collects data on international trade in services by Finnish enterprises and corporations and on goods trade that does not cross the Finnish border.

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The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States. 

Further information: Statistical legislation.

The production and submission of data on services trade by enterprise characteristics to Eurostat is based on Regulation No 2019/2152 of the European Commission. Detailed technical definitions are elaborated upon in Commission Implementing Regulation No 2020/1197.

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violation of data protection is punishable.

Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Unit-specific data of the calculation data must be kept confidential.

Data are handled only by persons who need the data in their work. The use of data is restricted by usage rights. The aggregation of data in the process, the compilation time evaluation related to data quality, detailed prioritisation of sources and measures related to total level balancing produce an end result that does not enable identification of individual data producers.

The basic publications of the statistics on international trade in goods and services follow Statistics Finland’s official guidelines on the protection of tabulated personal and enterprise data based on the principles of statistical ethics and legislation. The key guideline in data protection activities is to avoid publishing statistical data in a form from which an individual person or enterprise can be identified.

The statistics do not contain data decreed public by law at unit level, so the disclosure risk must be taken into account when compiling tables.

The threshold and dominance criteria are used when assessing the disclosure risk. The threshold criterion is based on data obtained directly from enterprises or imputed data. According to the rule, the data of a cell must be protected if the cell comprises a lower number of observations than the threshold value. In the dominance criterion, data are protected if the sum of the data of the main data suppliers does not differ sufficiently from the published data.

Data on protected cells are not published but suppressed. The rules are used for primary and secondary suppression. In primary suppression an individual cell is protected by suppression if the group value is based on under three observations or the data on an individual enterprise do not differ sufficiently from the published value. Secondary suppression is performed so that the contents of the cell to be protected cannot be calculated using the values of other cells.

All persons compiling the statistics on international trade in goods and services have signed a pledge of secrecy, where they have obliged to keep secret the data prescribed as confidential by virtue of the Statistics Act or the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service. 

Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland

The statistics on international trade in goods and services are part of the balance of payments. The data for the statistics on balance of payments are delivered at aggregate level following the confidentiality principle to the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, the OECD, the IMF, and the UN. The organisations publish the data of the statistics in several printed and Internet publications.

In addition to the releases of statistical data and other publications (see Sections News release and Online database), the statistics data may be published on social media.

The online and other publications of the statistics are also available in English.

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.

In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.

Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.

Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.

Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

The figures of the statistics on international trade in goods and services produce key data for the monitoring of economic policy and decision-making, forecasting, administrative purposes, informing the public of economic development (directly or indirectly through news agencies) and for economic studies to serve as source data. 

At the national level, the most significant users of the statistics on international trade in goods and services include government ministries, scientific and academic communities, and economic researchers.

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) are a comprehensive collection of statistics describing the development and state of society. They comprise nearly 300 sets of statistics on 26 different topics. The producers of Official Statistics of Finland have approved a common quality assurance in which they commit to common quality criteria and quality assurance measures. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The good practices followed in the statistics are presented in Statistics Finland’s Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics handbook.

The database tables of services trade by enterprise characteristics are not yet included in the Official Statistics of Finland. 

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data