EU27 trade in goods with Russia had increased steadily until 2008, before dropping sharply in 2009. EU27 exports to Russia rose from 23 billion euro in 2000 to 105 bn in 2008, then fell to 66 bn in 2009. Imports rose from 64 bn in 2000 to 178 bn in 2008, then decreased to 115 bn in 2009. As a result, the EU27 trade deficit with Russia increased significantly from 41 bn euro in 2000 to 73 bn in 2008, then fell to 50 bn in 2009.

The share of Russia in the EU27's total external trade in goods went steadily upwards between 2000 and 2008, but went down in 2009. In 2009, Russia was the EU27's third most important trading partner after the USA and China, accounting for 6% of EU27 exports and 10% of EU27 imports.

Germany, the Netherlands and Italy: largest trading partners of Russia

Among the EU27 Member States, Germany (20.5 bn euro or 31% of EU exports) was by far the largest exporter to Russia in 2009, followed by Italy (6.5 bn or 10%), France (5.0 bn or 8%) and the Netherlands (4.7 bn or 7%). Germany (23.7 bn or 20%) was also the largest importer, followed by the Netherlands1 (14.2 bn or 12%), Italy (12.1 bn or 10%), Poland (9.1 bn or 8%) and France (9.0 bn or 8%).

Most Member States recorded deficits in trade with Russia in 2009, the largest being observed in the Netherlands1 (-9.5 bn euro), Italy (-5.6 bn), Poland (-5.5 bn) and France (-4.0 bn). The highest surpluses were recorded in Austria (0.7 bn) and Denmark (0.6 bn).

Around 85% of EU27 exports to Russia in 2009 were manufactured goods, while energy accounted for almost three quarters of imports. At the detailed level, the main EU27 exports to Russia included medicine, aircraft, motor cars and mobile phones, while the main imports included oil, gas and coal.

EU27 surplus of 8 bn in trade in services with Russia

As for trade in goods, EU27 trade in services with Russia in 2009 declined compared with 2008. In 2009, the EU27 exported 18.5 bn euro of services to Russia, while imports amounted to 10.9 bn, meaning that the EU27 had a surplus of 7.6 bn in trade in services with Russia, nearly stable compared with 2007 and 2008. The surplus in 2009 was mainly due to travel (+2.5 bn), other business services3 (+2.1 bn), financial services (+1.6 bn) and computer services (+1.1 bn), partially offset by a deficit in transportation (-0.9 bn). Russia accounted for around 3% of total extra-EU27 trade in services.

Large variation in EU27 FDI flows with Russia

EU27 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Russia rose from 17.2 bn euro in 2007 to 25.6 bn in 2008 and then turned to a disinvestment of 1.0 bn in 2009, while Russian direct investment into the EU27 decreased from 9.9 bn in 2007 to 2.3 bn in 2008, then increased to 3.1 bn in 2009.