Norway's exports hit a record 999.8 billion Norwegian kroner (117 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the online business news site E24 reported Tuesday.

According to Statistics Norway (SSB), this figure is 16.2 percent higher than the year before.

More than half of the total was due to revenues from crude oil and natural gas exports.

The value of crude oil exported amounted to 264 billion kroner, while natural gas exports totaled 263.8 billion kroner, the report said.

Mainland exports were worth 457.6 billion kroner, and the trade surplus reached 288 billion kroner, which are, respectively, 9.3 percent and 63.5 percent higher than in 2017.

Exports of fishery products, metals and refined mineral oil products also registered a significant increase.

Exports of salmon alone accounted for over 70 percent of the total for fishery products, whose value was 96.2 billion kroner last year.

The total value of imports increased by 4 percent over 2017 and amounted to 711.8 billion kroner.

Industrial machinery imports totaled 80.8 billion kroner, which signals optimism for more industrial investment, according to Statistics Norway.

Even though the total value of imported passenger cars remained unchanged from 2017, the share of imported electric cars increased.

Ten years ago, in 2008, Norway's exports totaled 953.2 billion kroner. (1 U.S. dollar = 8.5447 Norwegian kroner)