Russia's trade surplus plummets 14.9% in Jan to $15.9 bln - Econ Ministry
MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - Russia's trade surplus fell 14.9% year-on-year in January 2015 to $15.9 billion, the Economic Development Ministry said in a monitoring report.
According to the ministry's estimates, $29.1 billion worth of goods were exported in January, 73.5% of what was exported in January 2014 and 77.4% of what Russia exported in December 2014.
Imports totaled $13.2 billion (63.1% and 53.5%, respectively).
Exports to the non-CIS fell 25.9% year-on-year to $25.3 billion in January 2015, while exports to the CIS were down 30.1% at $3.8 billion.
Non-CIS countries accounted for 86.9% of Russia's exports in January, up 0.6 percentage points, while the CIS' share fell to 13.1%.
Imports from the non-CIS totaled $11.6 billion, or 63% of what they were in January 2014, imports from the CIS totaled $1.6 billion, 64% of January 2014.
Non-CIS countries accounted for 87.6% of Russia's imports in January, down 0.1 percentage points, while the CIS' share also increased.
According to preliminary customs statistics, imports from the non-CIS plummeted 40.8% year-on-year in terms of value in January 2015.
A drop in imports from non-CIS countries was seen for all key aggregated items of the commodity nomenclature. Engineering product imports fell 44.5%, food and raw materials for its production were down 41.9%, textiles and footwear - 39.2% and chemical products - 35.3%.