6 Aug 2010 12:40

Russia

MOSCOW. Aug 6 (Interfax) - Russia's trade balance surplus came to $93.9 billion for the first half of 2010, the Federal Tariff Service said in a statement.

This figure increased by 80% year-on-year from $52.8 billion in the same period of 2009.

Total trade with non-CIS countries increased by $39.3 billion to $81.7 billion and CIS countries - $12.2 billion (up $1.9 billion).

Russia's foreign trade turnover came to $283.8 billion in the first half, up 44.5% year-on-year.

Trade with non-CIS countries went up by 44.8% to $272 billion and with CIS countries - $41 billion (up 42.5%).

Russia's exports in the first half of 2010 came to $188.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51.5%, including exports to non-CIS countries - $162.2 billion (up 54.4%) and CIS countries - $26.6 billion (up 36%).

The year-on-year increase in export value in the first half was driven by rising average export prices, as well as increasing volume. Average export prices increased by 19.4% while volume went up by 31.5%.

Fuel and energy goods accounted for 50.2% of total trade with CIS countries in the first half of 2010, which was an increase of 14.7 percentage points. The total value of fuel and energy exports increased by 120% year-on-year.

Russia's imports came to $95 billion for the first half, a year-on-year increase of 32.2%. This included non-CIS imports totalling $80.6 billion, up 28.7% and CIS imports - $14.4 billion, up 56.4%.

The increase in the value of total Russian imports in the first half 2010 was the result of rising volume (up 24.7%) whereas the average price index for imported goods came to only 101.8% in comparison with the first half of 2009.

Russia's main non-CIS trading partner in the first half of 2010 were Netherlands, up 81% year-on-year to 28.4 billion rubles, followed by China - 25.5 billion rubles (56.3%), Germany - 22.9 billion rubles (36.6%), Italy - 17.9 billion rubles (28.3%), Turkey 12 billion rules (41.5%), Poland - 9.9 billion rubles, the U.S. - 9.8 billion rubles (33.2%), France - 9.7 billion rubles (36.8%), Japan - 9.5 billion rubles (42.1%) and South Korea - 7.9 billion rubles (84.2%).