Page 44 - RusRPTAug19

5.2 Balance of payments, current account
Russia trade dynamics $bn
Nov 2018
Dec 2018
Jan 2019
Feb 2019
Mar 2019
Apr 2019
May 2019
Jun 2019
Foreign trade turnover, billion US dollars
62.9
52.4
63.9
46.3
52.4
57.5
57.60
51.40
export of goods
41.3
33.6
41.4
29.8
34.0
36.5
37.50
31.60
import of goods
-21.6
-18.9
-22.5
-16.5
-18.4
-21
-22.00
-19.80
good trade balance
19.7
14.7
18.9
13.3
15.6
15.5
15.50
11.80
source: GKS
5.2.1 Import/export dynamics
Trade with Russia’s major trade partners remains robust with $455bn worth of exports in May, down slightly from the $459.2bn of exports in April, and $221bn worth of imports, down slightly from $222.7bn of imports in April.
China remains Russia’s single largest trade partner accounting for $60.6bn of exports (12.6%) and $56.6bn of imports (22.2%) in May. In the last month exports to China fell by $400mn while imports from China were up $600mn.
Half of Russia’s exports go to just eight countries: China, Netherlands, Germany, Belarus, Turkey, South Korea, Italy and Poland in that order and the first three account for a third of the exports by themselves.
Imports are even more concentrated with half the imports coming from just six countries: China, Germany, US, Belarus, Italy and Japan. A third of Russia’s imports are from just China and Germany.
The make up of the import structure reflects the dominant role machinery continues to play in the import structure, where as goods and food are also represented but supplied mostly by China and Belarus.
The trade regime remains very stable with the volumes and shares varying little over the first five months of this year. However, on a country basis then over the course of this year trade surplus with China swelled to around $4bn, while the trade surplus with German swelled to $10bn. But in both cases the total has fallen back somewhat and more noticeably in Germany’s case, with the surplus down to $7.2bn in May.
Russia runs a consistent trade deficit with the US, but it is tiny and only $100mn in May. Russia also runs a trade surplus with Ukraine of a very consistent $4.4bn-$4.7bn despite sanctions and the de facto state of war.
44 RUSSIA Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com