Finland's exports still lag behind pre-coronavirus levels, but the worst slump appears to be over, the Finland Chamber of Commerce said on Saturday.
The business lobby's latest statistics show that the nation's exports were just three percent lower in December than a year earlier, a marked improvement from most of 2020.
Export-driven companies have begun to report a more optimistic outlook of late, said Timo Vuori, executive director of the central Chamber of Commerce.
"Last spring when the coronavirus restrictions hit here and around the world, exports plunged by more than 20 percent, but toward the end of the year the situation began to stabilise," Vuori said in a statement.
The Chamber of Commerce notes that exports still grew strongly in the first quarter of last year, rising by 21 percent compared to the early months of 2019, even though the pandemic began to gain ground here last March.
In the April-through-June period, exports slumped by 13 percent, falling further by 15 percent in the third quarter through September. In the final quarter of 2020, the year-on-year decline was a more modest seven percent.
International business travel to re-start soon
Altogether last year the 19 regional Chambers of Commerce around Finland granted 70,000 certificates of origin to Finnish firms for exports, also a dip of seven percent compared to 2019.
Vuori says that solid EU cooperation has ensured the movement of export and import goods within the bloc and with third countries such as the United States, Russia and China, even though the free movement of people has been sharply restricted.
There have however been problems due to fewer air and sea cargo routes, as well as a shortage of containers and growing freight costs. Meanwhile Vuori predicts that international business travel will begin to pick up again soon.