Page 53 - RusRPTDec20

Imports have been supported in particular by machinery and equipment, whose imports increased by 9% year-on-year in September. Imports of food and textiles also increased slightly.
Looking at countries, the development of imports has been variable, but imports from most countries have shrunk this year. Among the larger trading partners, there has been moderate growth in imports from China and Turkey, while for smaller ones, for example, imports from Iran have grown strongly in recent months.
The value of Russian exports of goods has also gradually hurt from the spring low, supported by the rise in oil prices, but was still 14% lower in September than a year earlier.
In contrast, after moderately favourable developments in the spring, oil export volumes have started to decline in recent months: crude oil exports fell by 23% in July-September and oil products by 5% year-on-year. Russia's crude oil exports were as low as last time in 2014. In January-September, crude oil exports fell by 10% year-on-year, but exports of petroleum products increased by 2%.
The volume of natural gas exports has turned to growth in recent months, driven by liquefied gas. In January-September, however, natural gas exports have contracted markedly due to the weak development of pipeline gas exports.
The development of Russian exports this year has also been supported by gold and precious stones, as the value of their exports has doubled compared to a year earlier. In July-September, they already accounted for 11% of merchandise exports and were the second largest product group in exports after mineral fuels. Exports of gold and gemstones have increased, especially to the UK, making it one of the few countries to which Russian exports have grown this year.
The volume of global wheat exports from Russia in the 2020-2021 agricultural year (which started July 1) is set to approach the historical record level ​of the 2017-2018 crop year, a report by the Sovekon research centre has said, ​RT ​informed.
Its experts have raised their projection of Russian wheat supplies by 1mn tons (2.5%), to 40.8mn tons. “The new wheat export forecast is slightly below the all-time high of 40.9mn tons reached in the 2017-2018 agricultural year,” said the report.
Estimated supplies of barley and corn have been lowered to 4.9mn tons and 3.9mn tons respectively. The country’s total export volume of grain, legumes,
53 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2020 www.intellinews.com