Trade between the European Union and Russia has been heavily affected by import and export restrictions imposed by the EU bloc following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to data published on Friday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), cit. from Agerpres.
Both imports and exports have declined significantly from pre-invasion levels.
Seasonally adjusted figures show that Russia’s share of EU imports fell from 9.6% in February 2022 to 1.7% in June 2023, while its share of EU exports fell from 3.8% to 1.4% over the same period period.
In March 2022, a month after the invasion, the EU faced a peak trade deficit with Russia caused by high energy prices. The deficit amounted to 18.5 billion euros.
By June 2023, this deficit had narrowed to €0.4 billion, remaining below the €1 billion mark for the four months of 2023 (€0.1 billion in March, €0.8 billion in April and €0.4 billion in May ).
The change follows a €18.6 billion decrease in the monthly value of imports from Russia between March 2022 (€21.9 billion) and June 2023 (€3.3 billion). At the same time, the value of exports decreased from 3.4 billion euros in March 2022 to 2.9 billion euros in June 2023.
What does the EU’s trade balance with Russia look like?
In the second quarter of 2023, the EU’s trade balance with Russia registered a deficit of €1.6 billion, a significant improvement from €45 billion in the second quarter of 2022. This significant reduction in the deficit occurred after a reduction in energy imports from Russia.
The energy trade deficit decreased from EUR 40.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022 to EUR 5.7 billion in the second quarter of 2023. Over the past two years, the EU’s dependence on energy imports from Russia has significantly decreased.
The share of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and petroleum oils imported from Russia has decreased significantly.
Comparing the II quarter of 2021 with the II quarter of 2023, the share of oil imported from Russia decreased by almost 27 percentage points. (from 29.2% in 2021 to 2.3% in 2023), natural gas – by 25.6 pp. (from 38.5% to 12.9%) and for coal by 45 percentage points (from 45% to 0%).
The European Union adopted the latest package of sanctions against Russia on June 11, 23 this year.
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Source: Hot News
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