China is Finland´s Most Important Trading Partner

Believe it or not, China is the most important trading partners for Finland. With more than 11 billion euros investment, Finland is already the biggest EU country investor in China in proportion to the size of the country’s economy. Over 400 Finnish companies already work and employ over 60,000 people in China. For companies like Finnair, Nokia, Kone,  , UPM and Wärtsilä but also for many SMEs China is the key market.

Similarly, Finland has become China’s fifth most important investment destination in Europe just after UK, Germany, France and Italy. Since 2000, China has invested about 7 billion euros in Finland and new investments worth 2 billion euros are under construction. Companies like Supercell, Okmetic, JOT Automation are examples of recent investment. Even though most of Finnish exports are still directed to Europe, the importance of China to Finland can be seen in the Finnish Research Institute ETLA’s recent study of Finland’s global value chains. If we put together all end and intermediary products, services and investments, one can argue that China is Finland’s first business partner in the world.

And this is just a beginning. Last winter 77% more Chinese visited Finland than a year earlier. The
The Finland Chamber of Commerce is the leading private. multi-sectoral business organization in Finland. One of our mission is to promote international trade and business relations. Therefore, our Finncham Network is supporting the activities of Finnish Business Councils and Chambers abroad. Furthermore, we are hosting 15 bilateral Chambers in Finland including Finnish-Chinese Trade Association. www.finncham.fi
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number of Chinese tourists will grow strongly. Alibaba Group (Alitrip) will bring annually an additional 50,000 tourists to meet Santa Claus and to see Polar Lights in Lapland. For many reasons, Finland is an excellent partner for China to seek solutions to challenges related to urbanization, energy and resource efficiency, emissions cutting and healthcare of aging population. When bilateral trade is booming, the importance of the Finnish Business Council Shanghai is also increasing. It is essential to have a functioning Team Finland, and a business-driven forum like FBCS in which members can share knowledge, experience and take action to strengthen Sino-Finnish business relations is a large part of it.

Business Networks like FBCS are very relevant today when trading is no longer Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumers. Today, business is H-to-H, Human-to-Human. People to People!