That dollar amount reflects a 37.7% expansion since 2017 and a 45.8% increase from 2020 to 2021.
By value, Russia generates about 2.3% of the world’s overall product exports estimated at $17.503 trillion one year earlier in 2020.
Officially named the Russian Federation, Russia is the world’s largest country in terms of geographic area. It shares land or maritime borders with 16 other European or Asian countries.
Russia was the world’s 17th biggest exporter in 2020 immediately behind Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.
Russia’s trade partners form a highly diversified customer base comprised of 191 entities including islands, territories and countries.
Applying a continental lens, 49.2% of Russia’s exports by value were delivered to fellow European countries while 42.3% were sold to importers in Asia.
Russia shipped 3.7% worth of goods to North America, with another 3.5% going to Africa. Tinier shares arrived in Latin America (1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.1%) led by New Zealand and Australia.
Russia’s Top Trading Partners
Below is a list showcasing 30 of Russia’s top trading partners ranked by export sales. The list quantifies which countries imported the most Russian shipments by dollar value during 2021. Also shown is each import country’s percentage consumption of total Russian exports.
- China: US$68 billion (13.8% of Russia’s total exports)
- Netherlands: $42.2 billion (8.6%)
- Germany: $29.6 billion (6%)
- Turkey: $26.5 billion (5.4%)
- Belarus: $22.8 billion (4.6%)
- United Kingdom: $22.3 billion (4.5%)
- Italy: $19.3 billion (3.9%)
- Kazakhstan: $18.5 billion (3.8%)
- United States: $17.7 billion (3.6%)
- South Korea: $16.9 billion (3.4%)
- Poland: $16.7 billion (3.4%)
- Japan: $10.7 billion (2.2%)
- France: $9.9 billion (2%)
- Finland: $9.7 billion (2%)
- India: $9.1 billion (1.9%)
- Belgium: $8.7 billion (1.8%)
- Ukraine: $8.1 billion (1.7%)
- Brazil: $5.3 billion (1.1%)
- Uzbekistan: $5.2 billion (1.1%)
- Slovakia: $5.1 billion (1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $5.1 billion (1%)
- Lithuania: $4.6 billion (0.9%)
- Latvia: $4.3 billion (0.9%)
- Greece: $4.2 billion (0.9%)
- Egypt: $4.2 billion (0.8%)
- Estonia: $4.1 billion (0.8%)
- Czech Republic: $4 billion (0.8%)
- Spain: $3.8 billion (0.8%)
- Hungary: $3.7 billion (0.8%)
- Taiwan: $3.5 billion (0.7%)
Four-fifths (80.3%) of Russian exports in 2021 were delivered to the above 30 trade partners.
Brazil was the fastest-growing import nation to increase purchases of Russia exports from 2020 to 2021 via a 163.8% acceleration. In second place was Spain (up 129.6%), France (up 108.3%), Italy (up 91.9%), Lithuania (up 91.5%), Poland (up 74.8%), United Arab Emirates (up 74.6%), Greece (up 70.1%) then the Netherlands (up 69.8%).
Year over year, the lone decliner was the United Kingdom thanks to -3.8% reduction in its imports from Russia.
For a more detailed presentation of the top 100 customers for goods exported from the Russian Federation, please see the section titled Searchable List of Biggest Importers Purchasing Russia’s Exports further down this article.
Countries Causing Russia’s Greatest Trade Deficits
As defined by Investopedia, a country whose total value of all imported goods is higher than its value of all exports is said to have a negative trade balance or deficit.
It would be unrealistic for any exporting nation to expect across-the-board positive trade balances with all its importing partners. Similarly, that export country doesn’t necessarily post a negative trade balance with each individual partner with which it exchanges exports and imports.
Russia incurred the highest trade deficits with the following countries.
- China: -US$4.6 billion (country-specific trade deficit in 2021)
- Vietnam: -$2.7 billion
- France: -$2.3 billion
- Indonesia: -$1.9 billion
- Ireland: -$1.6 billion
- Sweden: -$1.4 billion
- Thailand: -$1.3 billion
- Ecuador: -$999.5 million
- Paraguay: -$800.4 million
- Chile: -$674.9 million
Among Russia’s trading partners that cause the greatest negative trade balances, Russian deficits with Sweden (up 60.9%), Indonesia (up 58.8%), Paraguay (up 50.5%), Ireland (up 26%) and Vietnam (up 21.8%) grew by double-digits from 2019 to 2020.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Russia’s competitive disadvantages with the above countries, but also represent key opportunities for Russia to develop country-specific strategies to strengthen its overall position in international trade.
Countries Generating Russia’s Biggest Trade Surpluses
Russia generated an overall $198.2 billion trade surplus during 2021, an 87.9% expansion from the $105.4 billion surplus one year earlier.
Based on Investopedia’s definition of net importer, a country whose total value of all imported goods is lower than its value of all exports is said to have a positive trade balance or surplus.
Russia incurred the highest trade surpluses with the following countries.
- Netherlands: US$37.9 billion (country-specific trade surplus in 2021)
- Turkey: $20 billion
- United Kingdom: $17.8 billion
- Kazakhstan: $11.3 billion
- Poland: $10.9 billion
- Belarus: $7.2 billion
- Belgium: $6.2 billion
- Finland: $6.1 billion
- United Arab Emirates: $4.8 billion
- India: $4.7 billion
Among Russia’s trading partners that generate the greatest positive trade balances, Russian surpluses at the expense of Poland (up 131.6%), Belarus (up 112.6%) and India (up 100.9%) grew at the fastest pace from 2020 to 2021.
These positive cashflow streams clearly indicate Russia’s competitive advantages with the above countries, but also represent key opportunities for Russia to develop country-specific strategies to optimize its overall position in international trade.
Russian Export Companies
Almost 30 Russian corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000. The following companies are selected examples of leading companies headquartered in Russia:
- Gazprom (oil, gas)
- Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel (iron, steel)
- Mechel (iron, steel)
- Severstal (iron, steel)
- Sistema (telecommunications)
- Surgutneftegas (oil, gas)
According to the Russian Exporters Database provided by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the following are also examples of established companies that ship products from Russia to its trading partners around the globe. Shown within parenthesis is the product category that the Russian business specializes in.
- ALROSA (diamonds, jewelry)
- Finco LLC (drones for aerial photos, video monitoring)
- FPK Saturn LLC (copper, zinc, aluminum, tin)
- GUP Komdragmetall RSJA (gold)
- JSC Mir Upakovki (plastic packaging)
- OJSC TAIF-NK (refined petroleum oils)
- Omsky Zavod Trubnoy Izolyatsy (tubes, pipes, fittings)
- Souz Co Ltd (fertilizers, chemicals)
- Soyuz Agro, LLC (wheat, barley, flax)
- SpecPromTech (iron, steel, other metals)
Searchable List of Biggest Importers Purchasing Russia’s Exports
The following searchable table showcases 100 of the most valuable countries importing the highest dollar value worth of goods during 2021.
Shown beside each importer is its total purchases of Russian products then the percentage increase or decrease since 2020. Note that an entry of 0% in the right-most column means 2020 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Importer | 2021 Russian Exports | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $68,028,869,000 | +38.4% |
| 2. | Netherlands | $42,155,391,000 | +69.8% |
| 3. | Germany | $29,647,383,000 | +59.2% |
| 4. | Turkey | $26,511,631,000 | +66.4% |
| 5. | Belarus | $22,801,953,000 | +42.7% |
| 6. | United Kingdom | $22,270,225,000 | -3.8% |
| 7. | Italy | $19,323,316,000 | +91.9% |
| 8. | Kazakhstan | $18,477,747,000 | +31.5% |
| 9. | United States | $17,747,386,000 | +62% |
| 10. | South Korea | $16,896,774,000 | +35.5% |
| 11. | Poland | $16,723,091,000 | +74.8% |
| 12. | Japan | $10,747,570,000 | +18.7% |
| 13. | France | $9,910,010,000 | +108.3% |
| 14. | Finland | $9,656,183,000 | +36% |
| 15. | India | $9,128,677,000 | +57.4% |
| 16. | Belgium | $8,672,042,000 | +51.3% |
| 17. | Ukraine | $8,129,455,000 | +28.8% |
| 18. | Brazil | $5,261,560,000 | +163.8% |
| 19. | Uzbekistan | $5,204,935,000 | +11.7% |
| 20. | Slovakia | $5,101,265,000 | +68.2% |
| 21. | United Arab Emirates | $5,081,451,000 | +74.6% |
| 22. | Lithuania | $4,577,349,000 | +91.5% |
| 23. | Latvia | $4,295,186,000 | +33.1% |
| 24. | Greece | $4,197,283,000 | +70.1% |
| 25. | Egypt | $4,178,427,000 | +4% |
| 26. | Estonia | $4,131,261,000 | +59.3% |
| 27. | Czech Republic | $4,016,683,000 | +64.9% |
| 28. | Spain | $3,844,085,000 | +129.6% |
| 29. | Hungary | $3,719,415,000 | +40.5% |
| 30. | Taiwan | $3,517,861,000 | +13.5% |
| 31. | Mexico | $3,402,927,000 | +199% |
| 32. | Romania | $3,343,458,000 | +61.5% |
| 33. | Austria | $3,228,892,000 | +95.3% |
| 34. | Iran | $3,067,889,000 | +115.5% |
| 35. | Algeria | $2,989,445,000 | +1.1% |
| 36. | Denmark | $2,985,358,000 | +75% |
| 37. | Switzerland | $2,822,102,000 | -2.1% |
| 38. | Bulgaria | $2,685,198,000 | +36% |
| 39. | Malta | $2,359,786,000 | +4.2% |
| 40. | Azerbaijan | $2,322,993,000 | +12% |
| 41. | Vietnam | $2,242,171,000 | +38.3% |
| 42. | Kyrgyzstan | $2,153,707,000 | +47.8% |
| 43. | Saudi Arabia | $1,917,151,000 | +31.4% |
| 44. | Armenia | $1,892,968,000 | +14% |
| 45. | Mongolia | $1,816,078,000 | +31.1% |
| 46. | Norway | $1,815,030,000 | +66.8% |
| 47. | Moldova | $1,755,386,000 | +84% |
| 48. | Israel | $1,737,626,000 | +30.2% |
| 49. | Bangladesh | $1,721,612,000 | +12.6% |
| 50. | Singapore | $1,670,167,000 | +45.1% |
| 51. | Hong Kong | $1,614,844,000 | -16.6% |
| 52. | Malaysia | $1,429,843,000 | +36.5% |
| 53. | Serbia | $1,284,814,000 | +36.1% |
| 54. | Georgia | $1,257,639,000 | +20.6% |
| 55. | Senegal | $1,221,345,000 | +155.6% |
| 56. | Morocco | $1,213,930,000 | +58.5% |
| 57. | Tajikistan | $1,114,104,000 | +40% |
| 58. | Sweden | $1,071,599,000 | +2.7% |
| 59. | Nigeria | $883,388,000 | +108.6% |
| 60. | Croatia | $866,757,000 | +11.3% |
| 61. | Canada | $737,808,000 | +131.2% |
| 62. | Turkmenistan | $725,417,000 | +11.7% |
| 63. | Indonesia | $681,538,000 | +20.8% |
| 64. | Portugal | $603,809,000 | +187.9% |
| 65. | Kuwait | $595,871,000 | -20.3% |
| 66. | Syrian Arab Republic | $594,441,000 | +225.5% |
| 67. | Philippines | $532,527,000 | +0.7% |
| 68. | Lebanon | $520,080,000 | +65.1% |
| 69. | Thailand | $494,185,000 | +39.7% |
| 70. | Ireland | $464,533,000 | +84.6% |
| 71. | Ecuador | $460,374,000 | +113.7% |
| 72. | Uganda | $407,737,000 | +52.3% |
| 73. | Bahamas | $394,208,000 | +144.2% |
| 74. | Argentina | $370,012,000 | +291.7% |
| 75. | Peru | $368,380,000 | +83% |
| 76. | Slovenia | $354,638,000 | -19.7% |
| 77. | Pakistan | $343,476,000 | -30.9% |
| 78. | South Africa | $342,223,000 | +18.7% |
| 79. | Tunisia | $333,025,000 | -10.9% |
| 80. | Libya, State of | $331,969,000 | +173.8% |
| 81. | Colombia | $331,408,000 | +232.6% |
| 82. | Cameroon | $309,651,000 | +152.3% |
| 83. | Sudan | $306,298,000 | -18.2% |
| 84. | Togo | $287,605,000 | +2% |
| 85. | Myanmar | $284,332,000 | +26.3% |
| 86. | Iraq | $282,770,000 | +122.2% |
| 87. | Jordan | $247,930,000 | +13.8% |
| 88. | Australia | $236,371,000 | +91.6% |
| 89. | Yemen | $234,383,000 | -1.6% |
| 90. | Cyprus | $230,975,000 | -12.2% |
| 91. | Kenya | $221,112,000 | -5.9% |
| 92. | Gibraltar | $196,159,000 | -67.2% |
| 93. | Ethiopia | $194,696,000 | +633% |
| 94. | Guatemala | $182,922,000 | +173.5% |
| 95. | Oman | $168,177,000 | -19.6% |
| 96. | Ghana | $166,391,000 | +39.3% |
| 97. | Rwanda | $162,168,000 | +763.7% |
| 98. | Tanzania | $158,410,000 | -10.9% |
| 99. | Venezuela | $147,908,000 | +49% |
| 100. | Nicaragua | $145,358,000 | +232.3% |
Russia’s top 100 exports were worth a subtotal of US$488 billion, or 99.3% by value for all products exported from the Russian Federation during 2021.
See also Russia’s Top 10 Imports, Russia’s Top 10 Exports, Top Russian Trade Balances and Russia’s Top 10 Major Export Companies, and Russia’s Top 100 Consumer Product Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Country Profiles. Accessed on March 6, 2022
Forbes 2017 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on March 6, 2022
Integrated Foreign Economic Information Portal, Russian Exporters Database. Accessed on March 6, 2022
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on March 6, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on March 6, 2022