The metal and engineering industry, with its 40 per cent share, is clearly the largest exporter. It is followed first by the forest industry and then by the high technology sector, which has held the third place on the export list for quite some time. Naturally, high technology includes sectors of the metal and forest industries, but also many others, such as pharmaceuticals. Finland's estimated exports in 1994 were USD 35 billion, with the EU and EFTA countries and the USA as the largest trading partners. Growth was sought especially on Far East markets.

In terms of individual export countries, Finland's biggest trading partners are Germany, Sweden and Great Britain. The growing Russian market is of speciall interest to Finns, although Finland has a long tradition of trade with the Soviet Union.

The Finnish export industry continues to rely on the success of advanced high-tech products. Thus the industry invests huge sums in R & D comprising of some 2.3 per cent of GDP in 1994.