Russia-EU trade grows 2.3 pct in 2022

ST. PETERSBURG, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Trade turnover between Russia and the European Union grew 2.3 percent in 2022, reaching its highest level since 2014, RIA Novosti reported citing data from the Eurostat.

Exports of goods from Russia to the EU in 2022 increased by a quarter and reached 203.4 billion euros, 230 million less than the historical maximum in 2012 (203.6 billion euros). In the meantime, exports from the EU to Russia fell by about 38 percent to 55.2 billion euros, the lowest since 2005. This did not affect the fact that total trade turnover between the EU and Russia grew by 2.3 percent over the previous year to 258.6 billion euros.

Since the beginning of the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine, EU countries have introduced packages of sanctions against Russia. Kirill Logvinov, Russia's acting permanent representative to the EU, said that European restrictions have hit mutual trade hard, but trade flows have not completely dried up. However, as sanctions come into force, the volume of trade between the two sides will decrease.