Russian exports to the EU decreased by $70B in the first half of the year.

The largest drop was recorded in the hydrocarbons segment, particularly gas, crude oil, and petroleum products, which amounts to about $63B.

The situation is worse with semi-finished products made of steel and iron. Even though this group is under sanctions, it brought Russia about $1B in foreign exchange earnings during the six months. It is predicted that exports of this group will reach about $2B by the end of 2023. In 2021, the total import of this category into the EU from the Russian Federation amounted to $3B.

Noticeable changes are also noted in the volume of exports of rare earth metals, in particular nickel and platinum, where a loss of approximately $1.3B is observed.

With the ban on the import of Russian diamonds in the 12th package of sanctions, official export statistics indicate a significant drop in the import of this product, with a $900M decrease.