エストニア経済ニュース

●欧州宇宙機関ビジネスインキュベーターがエストニアでプロジェクト

MP Anne Sulling: European Space Agency (ESA) business incubator will come to Estonia. The ESA incubators support the conversion of space technologies for everyday use. There are already 13 such incubators in Europe. The Estonian project plans to use the Portuguese model with several incubators in different cities are under central control – in Estonia the incubators would work in Tartu Science Park and Tehnopol in Tallinn. The Tartu city council has already approved the project and Tallinn has also granted its agreement in principle. The ESA incubator should admit four start-ups annually during the next five years. Every start-up will receive 50 000 euros support, half of it from ESA and the rest from the local government. The opening of the ESA incubator is planned for the beginning of 2017. (Postimees, page 12, July 5, 2016)
 

●オイルシェール企業，解雇者を再雇用へ

Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) will relaunch the production and is hiring employees. CEO of VKG Ahti Asmann said that they will start working in September with full power. VKG will hire 350 employees, primarily former employees (chemists and miners) that were made redundant in January when the factories seized operations. Asmann also commented that the firm hopes to sell its products at a viable price in 2017 and cited the government's decision to link the resource fee to world market prices as an important factor. (Postimees, page 8, July 8, 2016)
 

●アルコール飲料，増税のため売上減少

Selver retail chain reports that alcohol sale has declined by up to 60 percent in some shops within a year. The management admits that this steep drop had not been foreseen and that projections expected a decline of 10-15%. The decline has been the largest in Southern Estonia – the alcohol sale in Valga County has dropped by 57%. According to the chairman of the Alcohol Producers and Importers Association Nele Peil, the decline is directly caused by the government's decision to increase alcohol excise tax by 15% last year, which has driven South Estonian alcohol consumers to prefer Latvian shops thanks to their lower prices. Both Selver and the alcohol producers' association call for the abolition of the excise rise. (Päevaleht, page 4, July 8, 2016)
 

●登録失業者数が減少

The unemployment rate dropped further in June. In the end of June, the number of registered unemployed was 27 209, which makes it 4.3% of the working age population. (Postimees, page 8, July 12, 2016)
 

●5月輸出＋4％，輸入＋11％

Estonian trade has significantly increased in one year. According to the numbers of May, the export of commodities has increased by 4% compared to May 2015, while import has increased by 11% compared to May 2015. The more rapid increase in import means that the trade deficit has increased further. Swedbank senior economist Liis Elmik commented that the trade in May was influenced by telecommunications equipment and the decrease of oil prices. The main trade partners in terms of export were: Sweden (21% of total Estonian export), Finland (16%) and Latvia (10%). The main trade partners regarding import were: Finland (13% of total Estonian import), Germany (12%), Lithuania (9%) and Latvia (9%). (Äripäev, page 10, July 13, 2016)
 

●本年5月の日本からの旅行者，前年同期比1割増

There are more and more tourists coming from Asia. According to Estonian Statistics, 280 000 domestic and foreign tourists stayed in the accommodation establishments of Estonia in May 2016, which is 4% more than in May 2015. 59% of foreign tourists came from Finland, Latvia or Russia. Compared to May 2015, tourist arrivals from Japan grew 10% and tourist arrivals from China 8%. (Äripäev, page 15, July 13, 2016)
 

●モバイルID，eSIMに非対応

How to make the mobile-ID compatible with eSIM smartphones? When the new smartphones using a technology that doesn’t use a physical SIM card will become available to Estonian users, the Estonian mobile-ID, which has 75 000 users, will become useless. Since such phones will not include a physical SIM card, the Certification Centre will not be able to insert a key anywhere securely anymore. The developers don’t yet have an exact plan for the making the mobile-ID compatible with the new technology. (Päevaleht, page 4, July 14, 2016)
 

●EUイノベーション・ランキング：エストニア14位

Estonia is in the middle of the EU in terms of innovation. The European Innovation Scoreboard by European Commission reveals that Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands are the leaders of the European innovation. Estonia is in the 14th position out of 28. (Päevaleht, page 4, July 15, 2016)
 

●医療価格比較サイトで安価な診療所探し

The headquarters of medical tourism is stationed in Tartu. Medihub is a webpage that helps to compare the prices of paid medical services. It’s possible to compare the prices in Estonia, and also compare the costs between countries such as Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and the UK. Since the price comparison is international, the webpage can be considered as a mediator of medical tourism. The price comparison will help people to find the cheapest option, because prices are very different. For example, the price of tonsil surgery costs 224€ in the cheapest clinic, and 495€ in the most expensive clinic in Estonia. Medihub also enables clients to choose an option that doesn’t have a long queue, thereby making the visit more accessible and faster. (Tartu Postimees, July 18, 2016)
 

●教育関係者，学力調査上位のエストニアを視察

Estonia has become a PISA-tourism destination because of good results. The former manager of the influential education test PISA Ross Turner says in an interview that when the tests were first held in 2001, Finland achieved good results – that caused many education executives all over the world to travel to Finland in order to search for the secrets of the good result. The same has happened to Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Now it’s also happening in Estonia – education people are coming here to see why Estonian children have such good results in PISA test. He confirms that Estonia’s success is based on the equality of accessibility to education. (Päevaleht, page 7, July 19, 2016)
 

●英金融機関，エストニアのIT分野を評価

Barclays evaluates Estonia’s digital development. British banking corporation Barclays’ Digital Development Index places Estonia and South Korea as the joint leaders of the world’s digital development. In its research that included 10 countries, Barclays compared digital skills and attitudes between the countries, and also policies and efforts to develop these digital skills and attitudes. (Postimees, page 9, July 22, 2016)
 

●スタートアップ，研究者のウェブ・プラットフォームを開発

Estonian startup Guana will give 10% of its holdings to up to 100 000 researchers all over the world in order to create a common format for research projects together. Guana is developing a web platform that connects researchers all over the world in order to support their co-operation with modern technologies. Everyone that somehow contribute to science may join the platform. (Äripäev, page 3, July 22, 2016)
 

●エストニア，EU最低水準の債務残高

Eurostat: Estonia has lowest level of general government debt in EU. The lowest ratios of government debt to GDP in the European Union at the end of the first quarter of 2016 were recorded in Estonia, 9.6 percent, Luxembourg, 21.8 percent, and Bulgaria, 30.3 percent, Eurostat said on Friday. The general government debt of Estonia totaled 1.97 billion euros at the end of the first quarter. Compared with the final quarter of 2015, Estonia's general government debt declined by one percent. (BNS, July 22, 2016)
 

●エストニア人，世界第3位の高身長

The tallest people live in Europe. According to the biggest survey on human length to date, the tallest men live in the Netherlands and the tallest women in Latvia. Estonia is third in both categories. Around 800 researchers from 179 countries contributed to the survey. From the results we can see that Europe has clearly gone past other parts of the world. The only non-European state that was included in the top 25 of the length of men, was Australia. North America and Africa have fallen behind, while people in many Asian countries have become taller during the last century. According to researchers, better nutrition of mothers and children, and better growth environment explain the change in growth of South Korean and Japanese population, especially women. (Postimees, page 7, July 26, 2016)
 

●鮭の対日輸出

Estonian fish industry M.V.Wool will sell 2.3 million euros worth of salmon to Japan in the second half of the year. (Postimees, page 8, July 26, 2016)
 

●スイス企業，一部業務をエストニアへ移転

A Swiss bus company Swissbus AG plans move its customer service to Estonia from September. The company plans to move the operating and administrating units of its bus tours to Estonia. The HQ would remain in Switzerland, the representative of the company Marco Borella said. (Postimees, page 8, July 27, 2016)
 

●緊急通報応答機関，新測位システムを導入

The detection system of the public-safety answering point (PSAP) was improved. The PSAP may now detect the location of a caller with an android smartphone with a radius up to 50 meters. The new solution uses Google’s and Sony’s positioning solutions. Estonia is the first country in the world to adapt such positioning system. (Päevaleht, page 4, July 27, 2016)
 

●EU議長国期間の前倒し，空港拡張に影響

Earlier presidency will interrupt the extension of Tallinn Airport. A large part of the work for extending Tallinn Airport was planned to the second half of 2017. The extension has three important parts: the extension of runway, construction of parking garage, and the extension of the airport’s security zone. Because of the earlier presidency, the building schedules must be changed in order to minimize disturbance of the growing passenger flow. According to Deputy Mayor of Tallinn Taavi Aas, the extension of tramway to airport should be ready by Autumn 2017. (Päevaleht, page 4, July 29, 2016)
 

●工業生産，原油価格低下のため減少

Estonian industrial production is suffering from low oil price. Experts conclude that Estonia's industrial output, which has been decreasing since spring of last year, is suffering mainly from low oil prices. Swedbank found in its analysis that low prices have cut production volumes in mining and oil shale oils, which has led the whole industrial sector into a decline. (Postimees, page 3, August 2, 2016)
 

●トヨタ車，販売台数首位

The sales of new cars increased also in July. 1924 new cars were sold in July, which is 3.4 percent more than in July 2015, the Association of Estonian Car Dealers announced. The list of carmakers was yet again topped by Toyota with 304 new cars sold, followed by Skoda and Volkswagen with respectively 221 and 177 units. The sales of utility vehicles was topped by Citroen with 66 units sold, followed by Peugeot with 61 and Volkswagen with 46 units. (Päevaleht, page 8, August 5, 2016)
 

●オイルシェール関連企業，売上減少

VKG lost less than Eesti Energia. The comparison of two oil shale giants reveals that Viru Keemia Grupp (VKG) had better results than Eesti Energia in the first half of the year. The turnover of Eesti Energia decreased by 13.8%, while the turnover of VKG decreased by 8%. (Päevaleht, page 9, August 5, 2016)