Russian foreign trade boom
Trade between Russia and its foreign partners is increasing rapidly.
Foreign trade in the first quarter of 2011 increased by 33 percent compared with the same period in 2010, figures from the Russian Customs show. While exports increased by 26 percent, imports grew as much as 48 percent.
The total value of the trade in the period exceeded 245 billion USD, of which more than 200 billion was with countries in Russia’s so-called “far abroad”.
The country’s trade turnover with Finland increased by 17,9 percent, while trade with Sweden increased 21,1 percent. Russia’s trade with Norway saw a slight decline of 2,3 percent, the survey from the Russian Customs shows.
Of the Nordic countries, Finland is by far the biggest trade partner to Russia with its turnover of 5,961 billion USD in the period. The Swedish-Russian trade turnover amounted to 2,249 billion USD, while Norway and Russia’s trade had a turnover of 777 million USD.
