This means the trade deficit fell on year to March, by €14 million, to €216 million, a decline which related most to trade with EU countries.

Exports of goods amounted to about €1.5 billion and imports to €1.7 billion at current prices, the agency says.

Jane Leppmets, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that in March this year, the biggest falls were see in trade with EU countries.

She said: "Trade with non-EU countries grew by 3 percent, but trade with EU member states fell, in the case of exports by 22 percent, and by 18 percent for imports."

"The most substantial decline was registered in trade with our neighboring countries Finland and Latvia," Leppmets added.

The share of goods of Estonian origin within total exports rose by 4 percentage points compared with March 2023, reaching a total of 68 percent in March this year.

Meanwhile the exports of goods of Estonian origin fell by 11 percent on year.

Leppmets said that, in March, the top partner countries for exports of goods were Finland (15 percent of Estonia's total) and Sweden (10 percent of the total).

The main commodities exported were electrical equipment, to Finland, and electrical equipment and wood and articles of wood in the case of Sweden.

Compared with March 2023, the largest fall occurred in exports of goods to Finland (down by €116 million), due to the termination of exports of natural gas, and to Latvia (down by €53 million ), as a result of decreased exports of electricity.

The greatest increase was seen in exports to Singapore (up by €41 million), where Estonia exported more mineral products (including shale oil).

The main commodities exported in March were electrical equipment (15 percent of Estonia's total exports), agricultural products and food preparations (13 percent), and wood and articles of wood (13 percent).

Compared with March 2023, the biggest fall occurred in the exports of mechanical appliances (down by €52 million), mineral products (down by €41 million), base metals and articles of base metal (down by €35 million), and miscellaneous manufactured articles (down by €35 million).

"A rise was registered in the exports of agricultural products and food preparations, including cereals, which increased by €12 million," Leppmets said.

The main commodities imported in March were electrical equipment, and agricultural products and food preparations (each representing 13 percent of Estonia's total imports), followed by transport equipment (12 percent).

Compared with March 2023, the biggest fall occurred in the imports of mineral products (down by €80 million), transport equipment (down by €51 million), and electrical equipment (down by €48 million). There was an increase seen in the imports of agricultural products and food preparations (up by €12 million).

In March, the main partner countries for imports of goods were Germany (13 percent of Estonia's total imports), Latvia (12 percent) and Finland (12 percent).

The main commodities imported were transport equipment from Germany, and mineral products from Latvia and Finland.

Compared with March 2023, the biggest fall occurred in imports of goods from Finland (down by €85 million) and Latvia (down by €45 million).

This was due to decreased arrivals of mineral products, specifically reduced imports of electricity from Finland and natural gas from Latvia.

Leppmets added that imports from the U.S. grew the most (by €20 million) as there were more arrivals of electrical equipment than the year before.

More detailed information from Statistics Estonia is available here, here and here.

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