Finland goods imports from China larger than previously estimated

Finnish Customs announced changes in its data collection methods last March (press release). Finnish Customs, which earlier only collected import data from companies operating in Finland, now also uses goods export data from other EU countries determine goods imports to Finland. According to Finnish Customs, almost all country and product categories saw adjustments in goods imports, so the new import figures are not comparable with previous years. Under the new method, Finnish Customs can generate more accurate statistics on the country of origin for goods arriving in Finland from outside the EU.

The new figures from Finnish Customs for January-June indicate that Finland imports more goods from China than previous import figures have shown. While last year’s share of goods imports using the old method was 9.4 %, China’s share was 10.3 % in January-June this year under the new method. Looking at product categories, it appears that the largest underestimates of previous years involved imports of Chinese clothing, headwear and tools. The share of the United States in Finland’s imports also appears to have increased considerably under the new methodology (US share was 7.1 % in Jan-Jun 2026, up 1.7 percentage points). At the same time, the import shares for Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands have decreased. Although the changes in the shares are significant, the rankings of the top importing countries have not changed. In the first half of this year, Finland’s largest providers of goods imports were still Germany, Sweden, China, Norway and the United States. Russia ranked 22^nd and accounted for slightly less than 1 % of Finland’s imports. Changes in import shares might partly reflect changes in imports, not just changes in statistical methods.

The changes in data collection methods have no impact on the export figures published by Finnish Customs. Finland’s goods exports have performed quite well this year. Exports overall rose by 14.5 % y-o-y in the first half of this year, while exports to China were up 12.9 %. As export growth to China rose more slowly than exports to other countries, China’s relative share among Finland’s export markets declined further to 4.4 % of goods exports. On-year growth in larger export product categories was led by mechanised machinery (23.5 % of exports to China, up 26 % y-o-y) and electrical equipment (12.0 %, up 29 %). The value of nickel ore exports more than doubled (5.8 % share of exports) and exports of pharmaceutical products tripled (3.9 % of exports). In contrast, the export value of cellulose pulp (29.7 % share of exports) fell by nearly 9 %, reflecting a drop in the price of long-fibre pulp on the Chinese market.

Finnish companies also have significant operations in China. Statistics Finland figures show that Finnish subsidiaries operating in China generated net sales of €12 billion in 2024. China was Finland’s fifth most important partner in terms of net sales, after Sweden, the US, Norway and Denmark. Finnish companies in 2024 had 242 subsidiaries operating in China, employing nearly 58,000 people. All figures have been on a downward trend in recent years, however, and that trend is likely to continue. In August, media reported that Nokia plans to close by the end of this year its Hangzhou R&D unit, which employs 1,600 people. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that Nokia plans to reduce other operations in China as well.