Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics 2018

Foreign controlled enterprises dominated both service exports and imports in 2018, exporting €146bn (77%) and importing €167bn (81%) of total services. The remaining €44bn (23%) of service exports and €39bn (19%) of service imports were provided by domestic enterprises. See Figure 5.1

Foreign controlled enterprises in the Information and Communications sector (J) accounted for €97bn (51%) of total service exports, with 17% exported to EU and 35% exported to non-EU countries, of which 6% were exported to UK and 5% exported to the US. There were no registered domestic controlled enterprises exporting services in the Information and Communication sector (J). Foreign controlled enterprises in the Financial and Insurance Sector (K) represented €13bn (7%) of total exports while in Manufacturing (C) and other sectors they represented €11bn and €25bn (6% and 13%) of total exports respectively.     

Domestic enterprises in the Manufacturing sector (C) accounted for €17bn (9%) of total services exports, with 3% exported to the EU and 6% exported to non-EU countries. Domestic enterprises in the Financial & Insurance sector (K) represented €15bn (8%) of total services exports while domestic enterprises in other sectors exported €12bn (7%) of total services. See figure 5.2 and table 5.1.

All enterprises importing services in the Information and Communications sector (J) were foreign controlled and they account for €77bn (37%) of total service imports, with 13% imported from EU and 24% imported from non-EU countries, of which 2% were imported from UK and 8% imported from the US. There were no registered domestic controlled enterprises importing services in the Information and Communication sector (J). Foreign controlled enterprises in the Manufacturing sector (C) imported €62bn (30%) of total services, with 4% imported from EU and 26% imported from non-EU countries. Foreign enterprises in the Financial & Insurance (K) and in other sectors imported €14bn (7%) and €15bn (7%) of service respectively.  

Domestic enterprises in the Manufacturing sector (C) and the Financial & Insurance sector (K) imported just €18bn (8%) and €15bn (7%) of total services respectively while domestic enterprises in other sectors imported another €6bn (3%) of total services. See figure 5.3 and table 5.2.

All transport and travel services exports and €12bn (78%) of financial service exports were provided by domestic enterprises in 2018. All computer services exports (€93.4bn) were provided by foreign controlled enterprises and they accounted for €25.9bn (71%) of business services exports and €1.9bn (98%) of repair and processing exports. Insurance/pension services exports were also dominated by foreign controlled enterprises (actual percentage not provided for confidentiality reasons). See Figure 5.4 and Table 5.3.

All transport and travel services imports and €12bn (86%) of financial service imports were provided by domestic enterprises. Foreign controlled enterprises provided €79.5bn (90%) of business services imports and 67.7bn (93%) of Royalties imports in 2018. Foreign controlled enterprises also dominated Insurance/pension services imports at €6.4bn (80%). Computer service imports and repairs and processing imports were also dominated by foreign controlled enterprises (actual percentage not provided for confidentiality reasons). See figure 5.5 and table 5.4.