Data extracted in November 2025
Planned article update: 24 February 2026
Highlights
This article provides a picture of the international trade of main product groups exchanged between the European Union (EU) and Russia. More general information on trade with Russia is available in 
this excel file. This article is part of an online publication providing recent statistics on international trade in goods, covering information on the EU's main partners, main goods traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.
Latest developments
EU trade with Russia has been strongly affected since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The EU has imposed various import and export restrictions on several products resulting in a 61% decline in exports to Russia and an 89% drop in imports from Russia between Q1 2022 and Q3 2025 (see Figure 1). More recently, in Q3 2025 compared with the previous quarter, imports from Russia decreased by €1.4 billion while exports decreased by only €0.3 billion. Consequently the EU's trade balance with Russia, which had been in deficit until Q1 2025 and turned to a small surplus in Q2 2025, grew to €1.5 billion in Q3 2025. This marks the second consecutive quarter in which a positive trade balance with Russia has been recorded. Moreover, such a surplus is unprecedented in the entire time series, which starts in 2002.
When looking at the changes in Russia's shares in extra-EU trade, both exports and imports dropped considerably below the levels prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Figure 2 shows that Russia's share in the extra-EU exports fell from 3.2% in Q1 2022 to 1.1% in Q3 2025. Over the same period, the share of extra-EU imports from Russia fell from 9.3% to 0.9%.
An analysis of the balance by product over time clearly shows that the overall trend is largely driven by developments in the energy trade balance. High energy prices in 2021 and 2022 generated a substantial deficit in this sector, peaking at €42.8 billion in Q2 2022. However, import restrictions and falling prices significantly reduced this deficit to €3.7 billion in Q3 2025.
Key product groups in EU imports from Russia
Figure 4 focuses on 5 product groups imported from Russia, selected because of their relevance with respect to total extra-EU imports in terms of share or in terms of their absolute value. These products accounted for more than 60% of all EU imports from Russia in 2021. There were import restrictions for natural gas, coal and petroleum oils. There were also restrictions for iron and steel and fertilisers, but not for all products in these product groups. These restrictions caused large drops in the imports for petrol, natural gas, fertiliser and iron and steel, although other factors could also have played a role. For imports of nickel there were no direct restrictions but here too, imports decreased considerably.
EU imports of liquefied natural gas
Unlike oil and coal, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia haven’t been fully sanctioned by the EU. Imports of LNG from Russia fell at the beginning of the war, before rising again from the fourth quarter of 2023 (see Figure 5). This led the EU, in May 2025, to introduce an updated roadmap to ensure the complete phase-out of its dependency on Russian energy products. In particular, the plan aims to end all imports of Russian natural gas,both liquefied and gaseous, by the end of 2027. The effects of this renewed plan are expected to become visible in the following quarters.
Russia’s share in EU imports of LNG decreased from 22% in Q1 2021 to 15% in Q3 2025 (see Figure 6). Despite this decline, Russia remained the EU’s second-largest supplier, although the gap with the main partner widened considerably. The United States, which accounted for 24% of EU LNG imports in Q1 2021, increased its share to 56% by Q3 2025, reinforcing its position as the dominant supplier.
EU imports of natural gas in gaseous state
Russia’s share in EU imports of natural gas in gaseous state decreased from 48% in Q1 2021 to 15% in Q3 2025 (see Figures 7 and 8). The reason why Russia’s share remains notable is that a few Member States received temporary exemptions because their infrastructure does not allow them to pivot quickly toward alternative suppliers. Over the same period, Norway’s share increased the most (+10%), making it the EU’s largest supplier at 25%.
Source: Eurostat (ds-045409)
EU imports of petroleum oil
The EU ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil along with the subsequent embargo on refined oil products contributed to a significant decrease in imports of these goods from Russia. As a consequence, the share of petroleum oil imports from Russia fell from 29% in Q1 2021 to just 1% in Q3 2025 (see Figure 9). In Q1 2021, Russia was by far the largest supplier of petroleum oils to the EU. By Q3 2025, the United States and Norway had become the main partners, with their shares increasing by 6 and 4 percentage points, respectively (see Figure 10).
EU imports of fertilisers
Fertilizers were not subject to restrictions or import duties until mid-2025, when the EU imposed tariffs and controls on certain Russian and Belarusian fertilizers, including nitrogen-based, phosphate, and potash products. While these measures do not amount to a full ban, they substantially increase the cost of targeted imports, and are intended to gradually reduce dependence on Russian supplies. The impact of these measures are expected to become tangible in the next quarters.
In Q3 2025, Russia was the second largest supplier of fertilizers. Russia's share in extra-EU imports of fertilisers decreased from 28% in Q1 2021 to 13% in Q3 2025 (see Figure 11). In Q3 2025 Morocco (19%) was the largest partner of fertiliser imports (see Figure 12).
EU imports of nickel
Even though nickel was not on the list of directly sanctioned products, the EU’s share of nickel imports from Russia fell sharply in the first quarter of 2023, continued to decline progressively, and stabilised slightly below 20% from the first quarter of 2024 onwards (see Figures 13). Overall, this represents a decrease of 21 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2021, when the share stood at 41%. The EU began diversifying its dependence on Russia by increasing nickel imports from other countries (see figure 14). The United States with a share of 26% in Q3 2025 became the main partner with an increase of 13 percentage points. The United Kingdom (+5 pp) increased also during the same period.
EU imports of iron and steel
The share of Russia in the EU’s imports of iron and steel was already declining in the first three quarters of 2021. Subsequent drops in both volume and value became more pronounced following the introduction of sanctions on several iron and steel products. Russia's share in extra-EU imports of iron and steel fell by 15 percentage points in Q3 2025 compared with Q1 2021 (see Figure 15). China (11%), Turkey (10%), South Korea and India (both 9%) were the largest partners for EU imports of iron and steel in Q3 2025 (see Figure 16).
Main product groups in EU exports to Russia
The EU also exported a wide range of products to Russia (Table 1). Between Q3 2021 and Q3 2025, exports for 4 (machinery, vehicles, electrical machinery, and plastics) of the 5 largest product groups dropped considerably, with pharmaceuticals being the exception. Pharmaceuticals stood at €2 522 million in Q3 2025, well above values in Q3 of 2021, 2022 and 2023. The weight of these exports is shown in Table 2, confirming a significant drop in 4 out of the 5 largest product groups, while the volume of pharmaceutical products dropped much less.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
EU data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU Member States but also to statistics of a significant number of non-EU countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.
Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the EU Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. For extra-EU trade, the statistical information is mainly provided by the traders on the basis of customs declarations.
EU data are compiled according to EU guidelines and may, therefore, differ from national data published by the Member States. Statistics on extra-EU trade are calculated as the sum of trade of each of the 27 EU Member States with countries outside the EU. In other words, the EU is considered as a single trading entity and trade flows are measured into and out of the area, but not within it.
Methodology
According to EU concepts and definitions, extra-EU trade statistics (trade between EU Member States and non-EU countries) do not record exchanges involving goods in transit, placed in a customs warehouse or given temporary admission (for trade fairs, temporary exhibitions, tests, etc.). This is known as 'special trade'. The partner is the country of final destination of the goods for exports and the country of origin for imports.
Product classification
Information on commodities exported and imported is presented according to the Harmonised System for product classification. A full description is available from Eurostat's classification server [1].
Figure 3 is based on the SITC classification in which the main categories are
- food, drinks and tobacco (Sections 0 and 1 - including live animals)
- raw materials (Sections 2 and 4)
- energy products (Section 3)
- chemicals and related products (Section 5 - including pharmaceuticals and plastics)
- machinery and transport equipment (Section 7)
- other manufactured goods (Sections 6 and 8)
- other goods (Section 9).
The products shown in Figures 4 to 18 are
- Nickel (HS 75)
- Petroleum oil (HS 2709 and HS 2710)
- Natural gas (HS 271111 and HS 271121)
- Fertilisers (HS 31) and
- Iron and steel (HS 72).
Unit of measure
Trade values are expressed in millions or billions (109) of euros. They correspond to the statistical value, i.e. to the amount which would be invoiced in case of sale or purchase at the national border of the reporting country. It is called an FOB value (free on board) for exports and a CIF value (cost, insurance, freight) for imports.
Context
Trade is an important indicator of Europe's prosperity and place in the world. The bloc is deeply integrated into global markets both for the products it sources and the exports it sells. The EU trade policy is one of the main pillars of the EU's relations with the rest of the world.
Because the 27 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organisation, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.
The openness of the EU's trade regime has meant that the EU is the largest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.
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