Customs Union domestic, foreign trade down in January-May

Foreign trade of the Customs Union countries in January-May totaled $369.9 billion including $235.7 billion of export and $134.2 billion of import. As against the same period in 2012 foreign trade went down 3.4%, with export losing 7.4% and import expanding by 4.6%. The Customs Union posted foreign trade surplus of $101.5 billion, down $24.8 billion as against the same period in 2012.

Trade between the Customs Union member states in January-May totaled $25.6 billion, down 9.9%. The Belarus-Russia trade reached $16.15 billion (down 15.6%), its share in the overall trade between the Customs Union member states standing at 63%. The Belarus-Kazakhstan trade was $336.4 million (down 8.3%), its share in the overall trade between the Customs Union member states totaling 1.3%. The Kazakhstan-Russia trade stood at $9.15 billion (up 2.1%, with the share in total Customs Union trade standing at 35.7%).

According to BelTA, the EEC noted that the decrease in mutual trade between the Customs Union member states can be attributed to a significant fall in the supplies of oil products from Russia to Belarus (after a three-and-a-half-fold rise in January-May 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011). Fuel and energy commodities notwithstanding, the mutual trade between the Customs Union and the EEC member states stood nearly at the same level as compared to January-May 2012 (down 0.1%).

Export from Belarus to Kazakhstan fell 8.9% over this period as against January-May 2012. Decease in export can be attributed to a 21% fall in the sales of cars, machinery and carrier vehicles (they account for 37.9% of the Belarus-Kazakhstan trade) and a 7.1% decrease in food products and agricultural raw materials (22.7%).

Export from Belarus to Russia went up 4.6%. In particular, exports of food products and agricultural raw materials were up 19.8%, products of chemical industry up 13.4% and metals and metal products up 10.7%. However, exports of machines, equipment and carrier vehicles which account for 30.9% of export to the Russian Federation, fell 18.7%.

Belarus' import from Russia dropped 25.9%, which can be attributed to a 39.5% fall in the sales of mineral products which account for 57.2% of Belarus' import from Russia.

Export from Russia to Kazakhstan went up 4.2%. In particular, exports of mineral products advanced 20.7% and chemical industry products edged up 3.7%. Exports of metals and metal products sank 7.4%.

Export from Kazakhstan to Russia decreased by 2.7%, while export from Kazakhstan to Belarus by 2.3%. The decrease in export from Kazakhstan to Russia can be attributed to the 18.9% fall in the exports of metals and metal products and a 7.1% drop in the exports of mineral products. However, the exports of machines, equipment and carrier vehicles advanced 11.9%. A drop in export from Kazakhstan to Belarus is caused by a 19.2% fall in the exports of food products and agricultural raw materials and a 2.8% decrease in the exports of metals and metal products. These two commodity items account for 17.2% and 58.2% of Kazakhstan's export to Belarus respectively. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan's exports of machines, equipment and carrier vehicles to Belarus went up 2.1 times, which accounts for 12.1% of Kazakhstan's export to Belarus.