Foreign Trade in Russia: Preliminary Results of the Past Year

Alexander Yu. Knobel – Head of Foreign Trade Department of the Gaidar Institute; Director of Center for Foreign Trade Department of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alexander S. Firanchuk – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In January-October 2018, exports of fuel and energy commodities increased by 36% as compared to the relevant period of the previous year (78% relative to the level of 2013). Other goods exports increased by 16%, having returned to the pre-crisis values (103% relative to the level of 2013). In the first ten months, imports increased by 7%, despite depreciation of the real ruble/dollar exchange rate. Growth in imports of some non-food products is evidence of continued recovery of consumer demand. In the geographic pattern of the sales turnover, the share of China grew (+1.0 p.p.) on the back of 1.5-fold growth in exports. 

Key words: foreign trade, exports, imports, exchange rate, geographical pattern of trade turnover.