Page 44 - RPTRusFeb17

(18.5% of total), while food and agricultural produce imports showed 6.3% y/y decline to $24.9bn (13.7% of total).
Exports of fuels and energy sources overall declined by 23% y/y in 2016,
accounting for 58% of total exports (62.6% share for the same period of 2015) or a total of $166bn. Exports of crude oil alone in 2016 declined by 18% y/y to $73.7bn, accounting for 25.8% of total exports.
Notably, the only exports segment to post growth in 2016 was agricultural produce , which showed a 5.2% y/y increase to $17bn, but accounted for only 6% total exports.
China and Egypt moved up the ranking of Russia’s top trade partners to become the biggest buyers of Russian food exports in 2016 . The main consumers of Russian food in 2016 were China (10.1%), Turkey (9.2%), Egypt (7.9%), South Korea (7.8%) and Kazakhstan (7.1%), according to estimates of the Russian Export Center (REC). All five were in the list for 2015, but that year Turkey was Russia’s biggest trade partner, RBC reports . China share in agricultural trade has been growing steadily but gradually from fourth place in 2013 to the top slot 2016 when it imported food worth over $1.55bn, beating Turkey’s previous record of $1.37bn worth of imported Russian products. China growth is mainly based on its demand for grain, which is also the basis of exports to Egypt and Turkey. Wheat accounted for 27.7% of food exports, frozen fish (12.9%), sunflower oil (9 5%) and maize (5.6%), according to REC. Russia also exports crabs (4.4% of total exports), chocolate products (3.1%), barley (2.8%), legumes (2.5%).
5.2.2 Current account dynamics
With the uncertainty over oil prices (US shale producers have now ramped up exports since the start of the year) and a soggy Europe, Russia’s current account results are raising concerns : the 3Q16 current account surplus figures were revised down from $1.9bn to $0.4bn, confirming previous concerns that the trade balance did not benefit enough from the ruble depreciation.
44 RUSSIA Country Report February 2017 www.intellinews.com