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17.06.2013

Internal and foreign trade in Customs Union shrinks in January-April

MOSCOW, 17 June (BelTA) – In January-April 2013 the internal and foreign commodity trade in the Customs Union has reduced compared to the same period last year, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The foreign trade of the Customs Union member states with third countries was estimated at $297.1 billion, with export standing at $189.9 billion and import at $107.2 billion in January-April 2013. The foreign trade shrank by 1.3% or by $4 billion compared to the same period in 2012. The export reduced by 5.8% or by $11.6 billion, the import grew by 7.7% or $7.7 billion. The Customs Union had an $82.7 billion surplus in foreign commodity trade. In January-April 2012 the figure stood at $102 billion.

Mutual trade between the Customs Union member states dropped by 10% to $20.4 billion in January-April. The trade between Belarus and Russia reached $12.9 billion, down by 15.5%; it accounted for an estimated 63.3% of the mutual trade in the Customs Union. The trade between Belarus and Kazakhstan amounted to $251.5 million (down by 12.2% with the share of 1.2% of the mutual trade). The trade between Russia and Kazakhstan stood at $7.2 billion (up by 1.9% with the share of 35.5%).

The Eurasian Economic Commission noted that the downward trends in the mutual trade have resulted from considerable reduction of supplies of Russian oil products to Belarus (after their almost fourfold increase in January-April 2012 compared to the same period in 2011). If energy resources are not considered, the trade between the Customs Union member states remained virtually the same as in January-April 2012.