14 March (BNS)

The number of foreign companies exporting goods from Estonia grew last year by 18% from 2010, totalling 1 757, figures of the national statistics office show.

Last year 11 919 businesses altogether exported goods from Estonia. Companies without a legal address in this country, i.e. foreign companies, made up 15% of the total, analyst Riina Kerner said in a Statistics Estonia blog post.

The overall number of exporting companies increased by 11%, which shows that the impact of foreign companies on Estonian exports has grown, Kerner said. While in 2004 foreign firms made up only 3% of exporters, in 2010 they already made up 14%. The upward trend illustrates Estonia's favourable business climate, due to which foreign companies have relocated all or part of their production in this country, the analyst said. Their exports are reflected in Estonian export statistics.

Some 6 717 exporting companies or 56% of the total number were located in Harju County, which includes the capital city Tallinn, and 8% or 939 companies in Tartu County.

Importing companies numbered 15 816 last year. Of them 66% or 10 366 were situated in Harju County and 10% or 1 588 in Tartu County. Foreign importers made up 2% of the total.

Compared to 2004, the number of foreign importing companies was half smaller last year, but it grew to 283 from the year-earlier 177.