Sluggish growth in Russian foreign trade

Russian customs reports that Russia’s goods exports, measured in dollar terms, rose a mere 1.4 % y-o-y in the first quarter of this year (they rose by 25 % in 2018). The dollar value of goods imports fell by 2.4 % (up 4 % in 2018).

While ruble weakness has depressed Russian spending on imports, part of this poor picture of Russian import developments stems from the use of the dollar as a unit of measurement. Measured in euros, goods imports to Russia rose over 5 %. About half of Russia’s imports comes from Europe.

The volume of exported crude oil increased by 7 % y-o-y (compared to 3 % growth in 2018), while the volume of oil products shipped fell by 7 % (exports were virtually flat in 2018). Growth in natural gas exports stopped, but exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued to rise. The value of energy exports overall increased by 3.6 %.

Russian goods trade, 2007–2019

Source: Russian customs.