Baltic Trade in October: Latvia slows, Estonia accelerates, Lithuania slips
Core facts
🇱🇻 Latvia:
• Foreign trade turnover reached €3.9bn (+2.5% y-o-y).
• Exports: €1.81bn (+2.2%), imports: €2.10bn (+2.9%).
• Export growth driven by minerals (+17%), transport equipment (+27%), electronics (+7%), food (+10%).
• Sharp decline in agricultural exports (-25%), especially cereals (-28%).
• Trade deficit widened slightly as export share slipped from 46.5% → 46.3%.
• Strongest partners: Lithuania (18.4%), Estonia (11%), Germany (6.6%).
• Imports from Russia collapsed –85%, exports to Russia rose modestly +1.5% (food products).
🇪🇪 Estonia:
• Exports €1.72bn (+5%), imports €2.05bn (+4%), deficit €323m (slightly lower y-o-y).
• Goods of Estonian origin fell –3%, while re-exports jumped +19% — mainly mineral products and agri-food goods.
• Biggest rises: minerals (+21%), machinery (+15%).
• Exports to the US dropped sharply (-35%), continuing a multi-month decline.
• Top partners: Finland (14%), Latvia (13%), Sweden (9%).
• Imports up for agri-food (+8%), down for transport equipment (-17%).
🇱🇹 Lithuania:
• Exports €3.21bn (-0.6%), imports €3.71bn (-0.1%); deficit €504.7m.
• Goods of Lithuanian origin: -1.3% y-o-y; excluding mineral products: -3.8%.
• Largest export drops came from oil seeds (-67%) and chemical products (-21%).
• Imports fell mainly due to mineral fuels (-29%) and organic chemicals (-59%).
• January–October: exports -1.1%, imports +4.5%; structural pressure from rising machinery and transport equipment imports.
Context
Baltic trade in October shows three diverging dynamics:
• Latvia posts moderate growth driven by manufactured goods and minerals, but agriculture weakens.
• Estonia grows on re-exports, masking the slowdown in domestic-origin goods — a structural shift visible for several months.
• Lithuania enters mild contraction, pulled down by volatility in mineral and agricultural commodities.
Across the region, machinery, electronics and transport equipment remain the strongest import drivers — signalling continued industrial upgrading but widening trade gaps.
BSM © 2025 | balticfocus.org/
Image: photos/photo_104@10-12-2025_19-33-51.jpg