In Jan-Sep, the foreign trade deficit contracted by 6.2% y/y to USD 5.8bn (deficit of USD 6.2bn seen in Jan-Sep 2012), the State Statistics service has announced. Foreign trade turnover amounted to USD 117.3bn, down by 8.7% y/y.

The trade deficit with CIS declined 22-fold y/y to USD 155.3mn in the reporting period. The volume of trade with the CIS amounted to USD 42.3bn, down by 15.8% y/y.

Exports of goods and services went down by 8.9% y/y to USD 55.6bn. Exports to CIS amounted to USD 21bn (down by 10.3% y/y), while exports to EU-USD 14.6bn (down by 3.4% y/y). Imports of goods and services contracted by 8.6% y/y to USD 61.5bn. Imports from CIS declined by 20.9% y/y to USD 21.2bn, while imports from EU grew by 3.5% y/y to USD 22.4bn.

The merchandise foreign trade deficit in Jan-Sep declined by 13.9% y/y to USD 9.7bn compared to USD 11.27bn seen in Jan-Sep 2012. In Jan-Sep, exports of goods made USD 46.3bn, down by 9.3% y/y. Commodity imports totaled USD 56bn, down by 10.1% y/y.

The largest effect on formation of merchandise foreign trade deficit in Jan-Sep had: mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of its distillation (-USD 12.9bn), ground transportation vehicles other than railway (-USD 3.9bn), mechanical machinery (-USD 2.3bn), plastics and polymers (-USD 2.2bn), electrical machinery (-USD 1.8bn) and pharmaceuticals (-USD 1.9bn). The coverage ratio of import to export totaled 0.83 (Jan -Aug 2012 – 0.82). Foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 216 countries of the world.

The volume of exports to the CIS countries amounted to 36.2 % of total exports, Europe – 26.5%, including European Union countries - 26%, Asia – 26.4%, Africa – 7.1%, America - 3.6%, Australia and Oceania - 0.1 %

Significant exports were made to the Russian Federation - 24.7 % of total exports (ferrous metals, mechanical machinery, railway locomotives), Turkey - 6.1% (ferrous metals, fertilizers, fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin), China - 4.4% (ores, slag and ash, fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin, mechanical machines), Poland - 3.9% (ferrous metals ores, slag and ash, electric cars), Italy – 3.7% (ferrous metals, grains, oil seeds and fruits of plants ), Kazakhstan - 3.7% (ferrous metals , railway locomotives, mechanical machines ) and Egypt - 3.5% (ferrous metals , grains , fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin).

Among the major partner countries exports increased to China by 48.8% and Turkey-1.3%. At the same time, exports to Egypt reduced by 18%, Russia – 13.4%, Kazakhstan – 8.9%, and Poland - by 6.4%.