REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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III.2. Foreign trade with the EU
Remembrance in Time
The EU is by far Russia's main trading partner, accounting for 47.1% of its overall trade
turnover in 2010. It is also by far the most important investor in Russia. It is estimated
that up to 75% of FDI stocks in Russia come from the EU Member States. Trade between
Russia and the EU has significantly increased over the past decade. Between 2000 and
2006, in a gradual way, EU’s exports to Russia more than tripled and imports from Russia
more than doubled. But trade figures show a clear asymmetry. In 2007, the EU27
represented more than 55% of Russia’s exports and 44% of Russia’s imports. On the
other hand, in 2006 Russia represented 10% of the EU25 imports and 6.2% of its
exports. 8 (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1. EU and Russia trade in goods 2000-2010
Source: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113440.pdf
Then, while Russia mainly imports manufactured products from the EU, which
accounted for more than 70% of Russia’s imports from the EU in 2006, the EU imports
mainly energy from Russia, which represents more than 65% of EU’s imports in 2006, a
percentage that has increased over the past years.
The EU dependence on Russian energy products has to be put into perspective. Russian
oil and gas represent 30% and 44% of the EU27 total imports, respectively. (World Bank,
2011) (Fig. 2)
But the level of dependence varies greatly within Europe. For instance, Russian gas
imports represent the entire Estonian and Finnish gas consumption, but less than 25% of
France’s one. On the other hand, the EU market is crucial for Russia as it exports more
than half of its energy products to Europe. (Mathieu, 2008)
8 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/policy_advisers/publications/docs/russias_next_transition_en.pdf