REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
RELATIONSHIPS OF THE SOVIET UNION
DURING THE COMMUNIST PERIOD AND
NOWADAYS
I. Foreign trade of the Soviet Union
Anasztázia KEREKES 1
In the Soviet economy the foreign trade played only a minor role. In 1985, for example,
exports and imports each accounted for only 4 percent of the Soviet gross national
product. Tha soviet Union maintained this low level because it could draw upon a large
energy and raw material base, and because it historically had pursued a policy of selfsufficiency.
The Soviet Union conducted the bulk of its foreign economic activities with
communist countries, particularly those of Eastern Europe. In 1988 Soviet trade with
socialist countries amounted to 62 percent of total Soviet foreign trade. 2
Trade with the industrialized West, especially the United States, fluctuated, influenced
by political relations between East and West, as well as by the Soviet Union's short-term
needs. In the 1970s, during the period of detente, trade with the West gained in
importance at the expense of trade with socialist countries. In the early and mid-1980s,
when relations between the superpowers were poor, however, Soviet trade with the West
decreased in favor of increased integration with Eastern Europe. 3
Commodity composition of Soviet trade differed by region. The Soviet Union imported
manufactured, agricultural, and consumer goods from socialist countries in exchange for
energy and manufactured goods. The Soviet Union earned hard currency by exporting
crude oil, natural gas and its refined products and other primary products to the
industrialized West and then used this currency to buy sophisticated manufactures and
agricultural products, primarily grain. 4
I.I. Western Europe and the Soviet Union
In the mid-1980s, West European exports to the Soviet Union were marginal, less than
0.5 percent of the combined gross national product of countries of the OECD. OECD
countries provided the Soviet Union with high-technology and industrial equipment,
chemicals, metals, and agricultural products. In return, Western Europe received oil and
natural gas from the Soviet Union. Although oil and gas were the primary Soviet exports
1 Emlekpont Museum, Hódmezıvásárhely, Hungary.
2 http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12784.html
3 http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12784.html
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_trade_of_the_Soviet_Union