Trade in goods halved
In the first half of 2009 the value of EU’s exports to Russia fell to €31 billion, compared with €51 billion in the first half of 2008, and imports decreased to €52 billion from €91 billion.
The fall in EU’s trade with Russia recorded between the first halves of 2008 and 2009 was steeper than the general downward trend in the EU’s total external trade, according to a press release from the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Eurostat.
Germany, the Netherlands and Italy are EU’s largest trading partners of Russia. Finland’s trade with Russia counted for six percent of EU’s total trade with Russia, valued €2 billion for the first six months 2009.
Sweden’s export to Russia was valued €654 million for first half of 2009.
More than 40% of EU’s exports to Russia in the first half of 2009 were machinery and vehicles and another quarter were other manufactured goods, while energy accounted for nearly three quarters of imports. At the detailed level, the main EU’s exports to Russia included medicine, motor cars and parts, aircraft and mobile phones, while the main imports included oil, gas and coal, according to the half-year overview from Eurostat.
