Domestic, foreign trade in Customs Union down in H1 2013

According to the operational data, the total foreign trade of the Customs Union member states with third countries was estimated at $447.6 billion. The foreign trade shrank by 1.8% or by $8.2 billion compared to the same period in 2012. The export to third countries totaled $284.8 billion, the import from third countries amounted to $162.8 billion.

In the first half of 2013 the Customs Union had a $122 billion surplus in foreign commodity trade. In H1 2012 the figure stood at $142.2 billion.

Russia's exports to third countries fell 1.9% to $236.5 billion, imports grew 2.9% to $139.4. Trade surplus stood at $97.1 billion. Belarus' exports reduced by 37.7% to $10.7 million, imports increased by 13.8% to $9.6 billion, with trade surplus at $1.1 billion. Kazakhstan's exports shrank by 7.9% to $37.6 million, imports went up by 7.5% to $13.8 billion. The country posted a $23.8 billion trade surplus, BelTA reports.

Mutual trade between the Customs Union member states dropped by 6.4% to $31.6 billion in January-June. The trade between Belarus and Russia reached $19.4 billion, down by 14.1%. The trade between Russia and Kazakhstan stood at $11.8 billion, up by 10.2% .The trade between Belarus and Kazakhstan amounted to $413.6 million (down by 9.6%).

Trade between Belarus and Russia accounted for 61.4% of the total trade in the Customs Union, trade between Russia and Kazakhstan for 37.2%, between Belarus and Kazakhstan for 1.4%.

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 three-time increase in January-June 2012 compared to the same period in 2011). If energy resources are not considered, the trade between the Customs Union member states remained increased by 4.3% from January-June 2012.