Archive:Russia-EU – international trade in goods statistics

Data extracted in March 2019.
Planned article update March 2020.

Highlights

In 2018 Russia (4 %) was the fourth largest partner for EU exports of goods and the third largest partner for EU imports of goods (8 %).

Among EU Member States, Germany was both the largest importer of goods from and the largest exporter of goods to Russia.

Dynamic chart file missing

This article provides a picture of the international trade in goods between the European Union (EU) and Russia. It analyses the type of goods exchanged between the two economies and the shares of each EU Member State in those exchanges.

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 products traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.

Full article

EU and Russia in world trade in goods

Figure 1a shows the position of Russia among the largest traders in the world. The four largest exporters were China (EUR 2 004 billion, 16 %), the EU (EUR 1 879 billion, 15 %), the United States (EUR 1 368 billion, 11 %) and Japan (EUR 618 billion, 5 %). The four largest importers were the United States (EUR 2 131 billion, 17 %), the EU (EUR 1 857 billion, 15 %), China (EUR 1 632 billion, 13 %) and Japan (EUR 594 billion, 5 %). Figure 1b has some more details. It shows that Russia (EUR 318 billion, 3 %) was the tenth largest exporter in the world between Singapore (EUR 330 billion, 3 %) and Taiwan (EUR 281 billion, 2 %). It was the 16^th largest importer in the world (EUR 202 billion, 2 %) between Australia (EUR 202 billion, 2 %) and Vietnam (EUR 189 billion, 2 %).

Figure 1a: The position of Russia among the world's largest traders of goods, 2017
source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)

Figure 1b: Top 25 importers and exporters of goods in the world with a focus on Russia, 2017 (EUR billion)
source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)

Figure 2 shows the imports and exports of the EU and Russia indexed at 100 in 2007 for the period to 2017. It also shows the cover ratio (exports / imports) for this period. Exports from the EU were lowest in 2009 (89) and highest in 2017 (152). Imports to the EU were lowest in 2009 (85) and highest in 2017 (128). The cover ratio for the EU was lowest in 2008 (83 %) and highest in 2015 (104 %) and was 101 % in 2017. Exports from Russia were lowest in 2009 (84) and highest in 2012 (159) and was 124 in 2017. Imports to Russia were lowest in 2009 (84) and highest in 2012 (169) and was 139 in 2017. The cover ratio for Russia was lowest in 2016 (157 %) and highest in 2015 (188 %) and was 157 % in 2017.

Figure 2: Trade in goods of the EU-28 and Russia (2007 = 100) and cover ratio (%), 2007 to 2017
source: Eurostat (ext_lt_introle)

Both exports to and imports from Russia fell

Figure 3a shows the position of Russia among the largest trade partners of the EU. Russia (4 %) was the fourth largest partner for EU exports of goods. It was preceded by the United States (21 %), China (11 %) and Switzerland (8 %) and followed by Turkey (4 %). It was the third largest partner for EU imports of goods (8 %), preceded by China (20 %) and the United States (13 %) and followed by Switzerland (6 %) and Norway (4 %).

Figure 3: The position of Russia among the EU-28's main partners for trade in goods, 2018
Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

Figure 4 shows exports, imports and trade balance between the EU and Russia. In 2008 the EU had a trade deficit with Russia of EUR 75 billion. This remained a deficit throughout the whole period, reaching EUR 83 billion in 2018. EU exports to Russia were highest in 2012 (EUR 123 billion) and lowest in 2009 (EUR 66 billion). EU imports from Russia were highest in 2012 (EUR 215 billion) and lowest in 2016 (EUR 119 billion).

Figure 4: Imports, exports and balance for trade in goods between the EU-28 and Russia, 2008-2018 (EUR billion)
source: Eurostat (ext_lt_maineu)

EU-Russia trade by type of goods

Figure 5 shows the breakdown of trade with Russia by SITC groups. The red colours denote the primary products: food & drink, raw materials and energy, while the blue colours show the manufactured goods: chemicals, machinery & vehicles and other manufactured goods. Finally, other goods are shown in green. In 2018, exports of manufactured goods (90 %) had a higher share than primary goods (9 %). The most exported manufactured goods were machinery & vehicles (45 %), followed by other manufactured products (24 %) and chemicals (21 %). In 2018, imports of primary goods (72 %) had a higher share than manufactured goods (17 %). The most imported primary goods were energy (68 %), followed by raw materials (3 %) and food & drink (1 %).

Figure 5: EU-28 exports to and imports from Russia by product group, 2008 and 2018 (EUR billion)
source: Eurostat DS-018995

Figure 6 shows the evolution of EU imports and exports by SITC group since 2008. In 2018, the EU had trade surpluses in machinery & vehicles (EUR 36.5 billion), chemicals (EUR 11.9 billion), food & drink (EUR 3.4 billion) and other manufactured products (EUR 0.1 billion). The EU had trade deficits in raw materials (EUR 3.2 billion), other products (EUR 17.6 billion) and energy (EUR 114.1 billion).

Figure 6: EU-28 trade with Russia by product group, 2008-2018 (EUR billion)
source: Eurostat DS-018995

EU-Russia most traded goods

Another interesting way to look at the data is to investigate the cover ratio (exports / imports) of traded goods, showing the direction of the trade flows between the two economies. These ratios can be found in the right-hand margin of Figure 7. Eleven products have ratios above 200, indicating EU exports to Russia are at least twice as large as EU imports from Russia. Nine products have ratios below 50, indicating EU imports from Russia are at least twice as large as EU exports to Russia.

Figure 7: Most traded goods between EU-28 and Russia, top 20 of SITC level 3 products, 2018 (EUR billion)
source: Eurostat DS-018995

Trade with Russia by Member State

Figure 8a shows the imports to Russia by Member State. The three largest importers from Russia in the EU were Germany (EUR 32 857 million), the Netherlands (EUR 24 308 million) and Poland (EUR 16 299 million). Lithuania (47 %) and Finland (46 %) held the highest shares for Russia in their total extra-EU imports.

Table 8a: EU-28 imports of goods from Russia by Member State, 2018
source: Eurostat DS-018995

Figure 8b shows the exports to Russia by Member State. The three largest exporters to Russia in the EU were Germany (EUR 25 985 million), Italy (EUR 7 596 million) and Poland (EUR 6 760 million). Latvia (42 %) held the highest share for Russia in its total extra-EU exports.

Table 8b: EU-28 exports of goods to Russia by Member State, 2018
source: Eurostat DS-018995

Figure 8c shows the trade balance between the EU Member States and Russia. Four Member States had a trade surplus with Russia. The largest was held by Czechia (EUR 578 million), followed by Latvia (EUR 528 million) and Slovenia (EUR 402 million). Twenty-four Member States had a trade deficit with Russia. The largest was held by the Netherlands (EUR 18 242 million), followed by Poland (EUR 9 539 million) and Germany (EUR 6 871 million).

Table 8c: EU-28 trade balance of goods with Russia by Member State, 2018 (EUR million)
source: Eurostat DS-018995

Source data for tables and graphs

Russia-EU-28 – international trade in goods statistics - graphs and tables

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 third 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 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 Community 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 28 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.

Data for the other major traders are taken from the Comtrade database of the United Nations. Data availability differs among countries, therefore Figure 1 shows the latest common available year for all the main traders. For the calculation of shares world trade is defined as the sum of EU trade with non-EU countries (source: Eurostat) plus the international trade of non-EU countries (source: IMF Dots database).

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 Standard international trade classification (SITC). A full description is available from Eurostat’s classification server RAMON.

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 a 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 an important element of the external dimension of the 'Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’ and is one of the main pillars of the EU’s relations with the rest of the world.

Because the 28 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 Organization, 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 biggest 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.