MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd March, 2023) Russia's share in the European Union's exports dropped from 4% to 2% from February-December 2022, and the imports share decreased by 5.2% to 4.3% over the same period, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said on Friday.
"Russia's share in EU's extra-EU imports fell from 9.5% to 4.3% between February 2022 and December 2022. Over the same period, Russia's share in the EU's total extra-EU exports dropped from 4.0% to 2.0%," Eurostat said.
The statistical office also said that the bloc's trade deficit with Russia peaked at 18.2 billion Euros ($19.3 billion) in March 2022 before declining to 6 billion euros in December 2022.
"The value of imports from Russia fell by 53%, from ��21.8 billion in March 2022 to ��10.3 billion in December 2022," Eurostat added.
The statistics showed that Russia's share in the EU's imports fell in 2022 for six key products such as coal, natural gas, fertilizers, petroleum oil, iron and steel.
The highest declines have been recorded for Russian shares in the EU imports of coal (from 45% in 2021 to 22% in 2022), natural gas (from 36% to 21%), fertilizers (from 29% to 22%), petroleum oil (from 28% to 21%), and iron and steel (from 16% to 10%), according to the statistical office.
The EU has been downsizing its imports from Russia and faced an energy crisis in the aftermath of imposing sanctions on Russia over the latter's military operation in Ukraine. The bloc started seeking ways to limit its dependence on Russian fuel. As part of these efforts, the bloc has increased energy cooperation with a number of countries including Algeria, the United States, Qatar and Nigeria, importing either pipeline gas or liquefied natural gas.
