ANKARA: The bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Russia plummeted 87.7 percent year-on-year in January, according to official figures from the Federal Customs Service of Russia.
The loss was highest among Russian trade partners. Russian trade fell 33.9 percent overall in January, primarily resulting from the heavy devaluation of the ruble that followed a major drop in global oil prices.
Russian exports in January dropped 30.3 percent to $27.6 billion, while imports that month also saw a major decline, falling 41 percent to $11.4 billion.
A major exporter of oil and energy products, they accounted for 75.7 percent of Russia’s total exports to countries outside of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a regional union of former Soviet republics. While Russia’s energy products increased by 17.1 percent in January, revenues declined by 30.1 percent.
A continued decline in Russian-Turkish foreign trade would be bad news for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the country’s Russian trade goals. Erdoğan said in 2013 that Turkey plans to reach a $100 billion trade volume with Russia by 2020. The trade volume hit $33 billion in 2014.
Following an embargo Russia imposed on European exports after Western sanctions targeted Russia due to its annexation of Crimea, Turkish exporters were hopeful that the crisis would create an opportunity for export growth, particularly for food products. However, Turkish exporters were not able to substantially increase levels compared to the previous year.
