Both exports and imports between Russia and the European Union have dropped considerably below levels before the invasion of Ukraine. Seasonally adjusted values show that Russia’s share in extra-EU imports fell from 9.5 per cent in February 2022 to 1.9 per cent in December 2023, while the share of extra-EU exports fell from 3.8 per cent to 1.4 per cent in the same period.
In March 2022, a peak trade deficit with Russia amounted to 18.6 billion euros due mainly to high prices of energy products. This deficit was brought down to 0.1 billion euros in March 2023 and did not change much until December 2023 when it amounted to 0.8 billion euros.
Altogether, natural gas, petroleum oils, iron and steel and fertilisers accounted for around two-thirds of total extra-EU imports from Russia in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2023, Russia’s share in extra-EU imports decreased significantly for petroleum oil and natural gas. Decreases for fertilisers and iron and steel were less pronounced.
In particular, imports of petroleum oil from Russia decreased from 28 per cent of all petroleum oil extra-EU imports in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 3 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2023. The EU’s largest petroleum oil suppliers in the same quarter in 2023 in extra-EU imports were the United States (16 per cent), Norway (11 per cent) and Kazakhstan (9 per cent).
Russia’s share in extra-EU imports of natural gas declined from 33 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 13 per cent in the same quarter of 2023. The EU’s largest natural gas suppliers in the fourth quarter of 2023 in extra-EU imports were the United States (22 per cent), Norway (21 per cent) and Algeria (18 per cent).