Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics (STEC) statistics provide information on the types of enterprises engaged in international trade in services and show how enterprises in different industries supply services and how this relates to their primary activity. STEC disclose additional insights into trade statistics, by allowing the profiling of the enterprises according to selected characteristics such as number of employees, type of ownership and economic activity.
29 August 2025
The activity breakdown follows the Statistical classification of economic activities (NACE Rev 2) and covers:
- · Total;
- · Aggregates of NACE Sections:
- A+B - Agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining and quarrying,
- D+E - Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities,
- I+L+O+P+Q+R+S+T+U - Accommodation and food service activities; real estate activities; public administration, defence; compulsory social security; education; human health and social work activities; other services.
- · NACE Sections:
- C - Manufacturing,
- F - Construction,
- G - Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles,
- H - Transportation and storage,
- J - Information and communication,
- K - Financial and insurance activities,
- M - Professional, scientific, and technical activities,
- N - Administrative and support service activities.
The product breakdown follows the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification 2010 (EBOPS 2010) and covers the EBOPS 2010 main items:
1. Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others
2. Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.
3. Transport
4. Travel
5. Construction
6. Insurance and pension services
7. Financial services
8. Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.
9. Telecommunications, computer, and information services
10. Other business services
10.1. Research and development services
10.2. Professional and management consulting services
10.3. Technical, trade-related, and other business services
11. Personal, cultural and recreational services
12. Government goods and services, n.i.e.
Enterprise.
The activity breakdown covers NACE sections from A to U.
The product breakdown covers EBOPS 2010 main items.
Sweden (SE)
Calendar year.
See section 11.1. Quality assurance
The data are transmitted to Eurostat in in thousands of national currency.
Eurostat disseminates figures in thousands of Euro.
Procedures for imputation
One of the most common reasons for imputation is non-response.
Compensation for non-response depends on the size of companies. Unit non-response among smaller companies, in size classes 1-4, is compensated by mean compensation, which entails that imputation is made with the mean of the submitted values per service in the stratum in question. Typically, mean compensation is done, not explicitly, but implicitly by recalculating the weights during the estimation in the following way: , where , assumed to be greater than zero, represents the number of responding units in stratum h. In case of STEC, mean compensation was done explicitly, implying the following weight for unit i , where represents the sample size in stratum h. Carrying out mean compensation explicitly made it possible to take into account branch activity (NACE1), the number of employees and ownership of non-responded units during the estimation procedure.
The disadvantage of mean compensation is that it can lead to overestimation if there are significantly different values within the stratum. To avoid such overestimation, these companies, known as outliers, are moved to a separate stratum where they represent only themselves. In the original strata, the weight is corrected for the number of outliers that have been removed.
For large companies (size classes 5 and 6), historical values were imputed as follows: large companies were imputed with previous quarterly data (if available, otherwise mean compensation was applied by stratum), while the non-response among public authorities was compensated for by imputing values for the public authority available in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Another reason for imputation arises when it is not, wholly or partially, to collect reliable data, for example, to make CIF/FOB adjustments for transport services. Other types of services associated with such model assumptions/imputations are insurance services, diplomatservices, municipalities and county councils, and households. The resulting model estimates are regularly reviewed and replaced by collected data where possible.
Imputation rates in the ITSS, due to unit non-response per size class are:
Quarter 1, Size class 1, 19%
Quarter 1, Size class 2, 10%
Quarter 1, Size class 3, 5%
Quarter 1, Size class 4, 1%
Quarter 1, Size class 5, 0%
Quarter 1, Size class 6, 0%
Quarter 2, Size class 1, 19%
Quarter 2, Size class 2, 11%
Quarter 2, Size class 3, 5%
Quarter 2, Size class 4, 1%
Quarter 2, Size class 5, 1%
Quarter 2, Size class 6, 0%
Quarter 3, Size class 1, 19%
Quarter 3, Size class 2, 11%
Quarter 3, Size class 3, 5%
Quarter 3, Size class 4, 1%
Quarter 3, Size class 5, 1%
Quarter 3, Size class 6, 0%
Quarter 4, Size class 1, 24%
Quarter 4, Size class 2, 13%
Quarter 4, Size class 3, 6%
Quarter 4, Size class 4, 1%
Quarter 4, Size class 5, 1%
Quarter 4, Size class 6, 0%
Likely impact of imputation
Systematic analyzes of revised estimates suggest that mean compensation may lead to underestimation, although its effect may also vary depending on the distribution of non-responding units across strata. However, since the non-response occurs mostly among smaller companies, whose total contribution to the estimates is much smaller compared to large companies, the effect of meancompensation on the estimates can be described as mild. The effect of historical imputations may also vary depending on the quarter and direction (Export and Import). Nevertheless, historical imputation often demonstrate a good overlap with the late submitted reports both in terms of values, the service and the country distribution.
The effect of imputations can also be assessed by describing the contribution of historical imputations and mean compensation to the estimates. For example, for the estimates obtained in 2022, we can say that the proportions of the estimates that are based on historical imputation and mean compensation, respectively, are:
Quarter 1, Export, Transport: 2% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 1, Export, Travel, 15% and 1%, respectively.
Quarter 1, Export, Other Services, 10% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 1, Import, Transport: 4% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 1, Import, Travel, 21% and 3%, respectively.
Quarter 1, Import, Other Services, 8% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 2, Export, Transport: 3% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 2, Export, Travel, 7% and 3%, respectively.
Quarter 2, Export, Other Services, 11% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 2, Import, Transport: 4% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 2, Import, Travel, 13% and 5%, respectively.
Quarter 2, Import, Other Services, 7% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 3, Export, Transport: 3% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 3, Export, Travel, 7% and 4%, respectively.
Quarter 3, Export, Other Services, 11% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 3, Import, Transport: 5% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 3, Import, Travel, 12% and 5%, respectively.
Quarter 3, Import, Other Services, 7% and 2%, respectively
Quarter 4, Export, Transport: 12% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 4, Export, Travel, 13% and 4%, respectively.
Quarter 4, Export, Other Services, 14% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 4, Import, Transport: 1% and 3%, respectively
Quarter 4, Import, Travel, 15% and 5%, respectively.
Quarter 4, Import, Other Services, 18% and 2%, respectively
Note that in the case of Travel, the estimated contributions above concern the estimates based only on the collected data, without involving administrative data. For the effect of using administrative data when estimating travel see the section Procedures for combining input data from different sources.
Procedures to derive new variables and to calculate aggregates
Some aggregates at the lowest level of aggregation are based on values obtained by splitting the corresponding original value by means of ratios. Some ratios are determined in advance, while other are calculated based on actual original data. Note that original values can be either values reported by units or imputed values. The statistical measure that is used is the sum.
Procedures for combining input data from different sources.
In addition to reported, imputed and model-based values, the survey uses administrative data. The brightest example of the use of administrative date is the aggregate Travel. About 95% of its estimate is based on this type of data. Another example is Other services, which is also based on both administrative data and mostly collected data.
International trade in services statistics by enterprise characteristics are derived from two data sources: (1) the quarterly trade in services survey (ITSS) and (2) data from the business registers.
Trade in services data are principally collected from a sample of enterprises (approx. 6000). In addition some data are collected from administrative sources, mainly credit card data,
The national business register serve as the source for the enterprise characteristics. No samples are drawn from the registers, but the full registers are processed. Some differences in the coverage among the countries can occur. Different administrative sources depending on national law, as well as surveys, are used to update the business registers, and in some countries VAT thresholds for registration apply.
Annual.
Statistics with reference year 2022 was published, for the first time, by Eurostat in february 2025. The release was planned for in late 2024, but was delayed due to unexpected problems in the production process.
STEC is based on already existing statistics, no additional data collection is being done. This means that production of the basic statistics (ITSS, Business register and more) must be completed before the production of STEC is possible.
From a methodological point of view, the comparability across countries is ensured by the implementation of the concepts and definitions set up by the EU legislation and by the application of the complementary guidelines provided by the European business statistics compilers’ manual for international trade in services statistics – trade by enterprise characteristics (STEC).
Data are comparable (internal comparability) for the three geographical groups World, Intra-Union and Extra-Union.
Reference year 2023 is comparable with reference year 2022 (the first reference year under the EU regulation).
