Methodological change concerning the compilation of statistics on the international trade in goods in January 2024

From the beginning of the statistical year 2024, the method used for compiling international statistics on goods was changed in all EU countries. The method affects the trade statistics on trade outside the EU countries. Export goods declared for customs clearance in each Member State are no longer recorded in the country of filing if the actual country of export is another EU country. Instead, these export data are sent for statistical purposes to the EU country from where the goods were sent to be cleared through customs in another Member State. This is a system agreed between the EU countries for exchanging external trade data, i.e. Customs data Exchange (CDE).

In the Finnish statistics on the international trade in goods, we remove goods exports declared for customs clearance to Finnish Customs from the statistics if the actual country of exports is another Member State. We also add information sent to us on exports that cross the EU’s external border in another Member State and where customs clearance has been carried out.

Based on data for January 2024, the total impact on the value of exports of goods removed was -0.07 per cent and that of added exports of goods 0.04 per cent. The whole effect comes from external trade. The value of export items removed was higher than the added value, so the net effect was -0.03 per cent. The estimate is that the impact on total exports will remain more or less at the same level every month. For individual countries, the percentage impact may be higher, especially if the value of exports is low. The monthly variation by country should also be significant.