Russia non-energy exports booming, says report
Russia, world renowned for its vast reserves of hydrocarbons and metals locked away under the ground, has seen its exports of other products boom to record levels. Non-resource-based shipments are now worth more than $191 billion to the economy, having soared by more than a third, the Russian Export Center (REC) has announced.
In a statement released on Thursday, the head of the research group, Veronika Nikishina, said that “according to the results of January-November 2021, Russia’s non-resource non-energy exports amounted to $170.5 billion.”
According to her, analysts estimate that for the full year, the number of these deliveries increased by 36% to more than $191 billion, said to be “a new all-time high.”
Growth was observed in practically all sectors, Nikishina said, but was most notable in ferrous and non-ferrous metals, fertilizers, woodwork products, chemicals, plastics and energy equipment.
“The pandemic has created new opportunities for domestic producers to enter and gain a foothold in global markets,” she added.
As per the report, in the first 11 months of 2021, the REC’s analytical center saw growth in all major sectors. Exports from the chemical and metal industry grew by over half (54% and 52% respectively), while shipments from the timber industry had a 43% increase. Exports of machinery and food recorded a 31% and 23% surge.
China took first place as the main importer of Russian products ($15.6 billion), followed by former Soviet Republics Kazakhstan and Belarus ($14.4 billion and $11.4 billion). Meanwhile, the US shipped in $7.9 billion worth of goods from the world’s largest country.
In an interview with RIA Novosti earlier this month, Russia’s trade representative for China, Aleksey Dakhnovsky, said that commercial turnover between the two states had exceeded pre-pandemic levels and broken records.
Speaking at his annual press conference in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists that the two nations “have very trusting relations and it helps us build good business ties as well.”
In October, Nikishina estimated that Russia’s non-resource, non-energy-based exports would break records in 2021. She told reporters on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women’s Forum that “by the end of the year … they may amount to $180 billion.”
