EU exports to Russian decline 10.7% following sanctions

Economic sanctions between the European Union (EU) and Russia in early 2014 following the Ukraine conflict have led to a decline of 10.7 percent in EU exports to Russia until 2016, a new Austrian study has revealed.

The study from the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) says that when factoring in a weakening of the Russian economy, the decline was even as greater as 15.7 percent annually over the given time frame.

It says in 2013 total EU exports to Russia amounted to 120 billion euros (140 billion U.S. dollars), which by 2016 had collapsed to just 72 billion euros (84 billion U.S. dollars).

The study attributes about 40 percent of the lost exports, or about 30 billion euros (35 billion U.S. dollars) in total value, to the results of the sanctions.

And the waning also led to Russia slipping from the fourth-most important trading partner of the EU to the fifth, behind the U.S., Switzerland, China, and Turkey.

In Austria alone, the sanctions are estimated to have caused a decline in exports to Russia of 9.5 percent, and cost about 1 billion euros.

Most affected, however, was Cyprus, which saw a massive 34.5 percent collapse in exports to Russia between 2014 and 2016, while exports of Greece (down 23.2 percent) and Croatia (down 21 percent) were also notably impacted.

By industry, the Russian sanctions impacted the exports of EU agricultural products and foodstuffs most, with a 22.5 percent decline.

Manufactured goods exports, in particular cars, saw a 17.7 percent decline, while that of raw materials, in particular iron and steel, fell about 15 percent.

WIFO noted that prior to the dispute, trade relations had been steadily improving, with EU exports to Russia increasing about 23.5 percent a year between 2009 and 2012.