Russian imports almost recovered to pre-crisis levels – Kommersant

Russian imports have almost recovered to pre-crisis levels in both value and physical terms, Ruslan Davydov, acting head of the Federal Customs Service (FTS), said. According to him, China, India, Turkey and Azerbaijan have replaced the European Union (EU) in Russia’s foreign trade.

According to Mr. Davydov, since July 2022 there has been a “stable recovery in foreign trade.” “Especially for imports, we have practically recovered to pre-crisis volumes in value and physical terms,” he said in an interview with RIA Novosti on the sidelines of SPIEF.

The acting head of the FCS said that exports in physical terms “almost did not decrease, only by 2%.” “It’s just that last year oil and gas were much more expensive than now, which caused a drop in exports in value terms,” says Ruslan Davydov.

He said that instead of trade with Europe, Russia is increasing trade with the southern and eastern directions. “A holy place is never empty. China is growing very seriously. I think that the task that was set by the leaders of our countries in terms of a trade turnover of $200 billion, if there are no cataclysms, is achievable this year,” Mr. Davydov is sure.

Acting head of the FCS saidthat since the beginning of the year, the share of trade between the Russian Federation and the EU countries has fallen to 18%. Aide to the President of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin called China is a key Russian partner, which bypassed the EU in terms of trade with the Russian Federation. For five months of 2023, the trade turnover between Russia and China increased by 40.7%.

Laura Keffer