BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 2. The EU-Russia trade balance for goods in the second quarter of 2023 showed a marked improvement, recording a deficit of 1.6 billion euros, Trend reports.
According to the EU statistical office (Eurostat), this marks a significant turnaround from the 45 billion euros deficit seen in the second quarter of 2022.
This reduction in the deficit can be primarily attributed to the decrease in energy imports from Russia, Eurostat says. Specifically, the trade deficit related to energy has plummeted from 40.4 billion euros in the second quarter of 2022 to 5.7 billion euros over the same period of 2023.
Over the past two years, the EU has notably reduced its dependence on energy imports from Russia, the report noted. More specifically, the share of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and petroleum oil imported from Russia has seen substantial declines.
When comparing the second quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2023, petroleum imports have dropped by 27 percentage points (from 29.2 percent in 2021 to 2.3 percent in 2023), natural gas by 26 percentage points (from 38.5 percent to 12.9 percent), and coal by a substantial 45 percentage points (from 45 percent to 0 percent).
Meanwhile, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in general, Russia's revenues from oil exports in July 2023 amounted to $15.3 billion, which is $2.5 billion more month-on-month ($12.8 billion in June 2023). Shipments to East Europe climbed by 40,000 b/d to 420,000 b/d. At the same time, the IEA expects an average oil production of 10.86 mb/d in Russia in 2023, indicating a year-on-year reduction of 230,000 b/d.
