Record Russian foreign trade surplus
Russian foreign trade surplus reached a record level of $74.7 billion in the first nine months of the year, Russian customs reported. The country's trade surplus was $56.4 billion in the Jan-Sep period last year.
Russia clearly felt the positive impact of higher crude and natural gas prices.
When compared with the first nine months of 2003, Russian exports increased by 32.2% to $127.7 billion, while imports increased 31.5% in the same period.
Russia's trade volume with
Germany was $16.8 billion, followed by the
Netherlands with $11.6 billion,
Italy with $10.8 billion,
China with $10.7 billion, the US with $6.7 billion and
Turkey ranking 6th with $5.9 billion.