Statistics specification: Re-exports

Definition of re-exportation

Exports from Finland include goods both produced in Finland and elsewhere. The supply of goods produced outside of Finland, but which transit through Finland, can be classed in three groups according the customs treatment of the goods.

1) Transit Transit goods travel via Finland's customs territory, but they are at no point in time put in circulation in Finland. Transit is not included in the scope of this report, and it is not included in the foreign trade statistic.

2) The import of goods temporarily for storage in the customs warehouse, for repairs or for further processing, etc. This re-exportation as determined by EU regulations is very small in scope and not within the scope of the report.

3) The further export of goods, which have been produced elsewhere and then been imported to Finland. The goods in question can change owner while in Finland, or they can be stored, repacked or equipped e.g. with user manuals. However, the essential characteristics of the goods and their CN classification-based product name will not change during handling.

In this report, re-export refers to goods that have been imported to Finland and then re-exported, and which have not changed owner while in Finland or have changed owner within a group. While in Finland, these goods may have been stored, repacked or equipped e.g. with instruction manuals in a way that ensures their essential characteristics and CN classification-based product name have not changed.

Method of calculation for re-exports

Re-export is calculated by examining the goods flow through companies and groups by product class. The examined actors include either groups, i.e. a parent company and its subsidiaries, or individual companies.

Goods are examined by class according to their given 8 digit Combined Nomenclature (CN8), which is its most accurate level. Of the goods in the same product class imported and exported by a company or group, only products which have been imported from a different country of origin than they are then exported to will be considered re-exports, i.e. the goods will not return to their country of origin. When a company or a group both imports and exports goods in the same CN8 class, exported goods that are equal in number to the company's or group's imports of the same CN8 are considered re-exports. The amount of imports that end up on the domestic market and how much of the export products originate from elsewhere than the company's own imports such as products they have produced in Finland cannot be specified in the materials.

In cases where the company imports less of a certain CN8-class product than they export, all imports will be considered re-exports. In this case, the amount of re-export of goods by country is calculated by dividing the company's imports in the CN8 class in question by destination country in the same ratio as the company's total exports are distributed between different countries. For example, if a company imports 100 kilogrammes of CN 11041290 and exports 200 kilogrammes of the same CN8 to Russia and 100 kilogrammes to Sweden two-thirds of imports are considered re-exports to Russia and one-third re-exports to Sweden. In the same manner, if a company imports 50 kilogrammes of a certain CN8 and exports 90 kilogrammes to no other country than Russia, the entire 50 kilogrammes of imports will be considered re-exports to Russia. In cases where the import of a certain CN8 is equal to the export of the same CN8, all of these CN8 goods will be considered re-exports. For example, if a company imports 300 kilogrammes and exports 100 kilogrammes to Sweden and 100 kilogrammes to Russia, this will mean the company re-exports 100 kilogrammes to Russia and 100 kilogrammes to Sweden.

The value of re-exports is calculated by using the amounts imported and exported, i.e. in most cases these are stated in kilogrammes, so that the increase in value between import and export does not distort the statistic. In the case of electrical energy CN 27160000 amounts are calculated using megawatt hours. The value of re-exports is calculated using company or group-specific median prices by CN8 class with the assumption that the company's or the group's re-exported goods have the same price per kilogramme or unit as the company's other exports.

The increase in value of goods flows is calculated on the basis of the price per kilogramme or unit for goods flow of CN8-specific imports and exports by companies that import and export. For example, if a company imports a certain CN8 at a price of 3 euros/kg and re-exports the same products at 4 euros/kilo, the value of the goods increases by 33%. Increase in value is calculated by excluding mobile phones and their parts (CN 85171200 and 85177090) as well as cars (CN 87032110–87039090) from goods flow. The calculation is unable to provide specifics on those imported goods that end up on the market in Finland or exports that were produced in Finland.

Finnish Customs has produced surveys in 2005-2010 on re-exports to Russia. Drafting of the survey in question was based on macro-comparison of production and foreign trade statistics. Due to the different methods used in calculation, the figures stated in this survey and the re-exports to Russia survey cannot be directly compared to one another.