Türkiye becoming one of Russia’s top trade partners

Trade between Moscow and Ankara has been expanding rapidly, with the volume of goods supplied to Russia hitting a monthly record of $1.1 billion in September.

According to the RBC business daily, citing data from the Turkish Institute of Statistics, that’s 2.3 times more than in the same month in 2021 when Turkish exports to Russia amounted to $504 million.

Data shows that in 2021, Türkiye ranked 11th among the countries supplying goods to Russia, ahead of the US, France, Japan, Poland, and Italy. This summer it broke into the top five exporters.

September's jump has placed Türkiye on par with Germany in terms of exports to Russia, RBC reports. During May-August Eurostat finds that German exports to Russia averaged around $1.2 billion per month and $1.14 billion in September, which is slightly less than that of Türkiye.

However, if Türkiye overtakes Berlin it will become the third largest exporter of goods to Russia, after China and Belarus, the report says. Chinese exports to Russia in September amounted to about $8 billion, while the latest available data for Belarussian exports is that of June - at over $2 billion. Türkiye and Germany are followed by Kazakhstan, whose exports to Russia amounted to $881 million in August (up 23% versus July).

Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development announced this month that it expects 2022 bilateral trade with Türkiye to exceed $60 billion. Earlier this year, Moscow and Ankara signed a roadmap for economic cooperation that envisages bringing bilateral trade turnover to $100 billion a year. The two nations have also agreed to introduce the Russian ruble as a settlement currency, including using it for payments for Russian natural gas supplies.

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