MOSCOW: Greek exports to Russia returned to positive group in 2016 after three years of decline, the Greek embassy’s Economic and Trade Affairs bureau in Moscow said in a report on bilateral trade relations.
According to provisional data released by Hellenic Statistical Authority, a decline in bilateral trade between Greece and Russia continued in 2016, but showed signs of slowdown, with the volume of trade falling by 16.8 percent to 3.6 billion euros.
Greek exports to Russia grew 1.1 percent to 215.5 million euros in 2016, while imports from Russia fell 18 percent to 2.8 billion euros. The trade balance, despite an improvement of around 612 million euros, remained in deficit for Greece, reflecting the impact of an EU embargo against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, a significant depreciation of the Russian currency and a decline in domestic demand because of a recession in the Russian economy.
Clothing and fur products accounted for 21 percent of total Greek exports to Russia, down 3.0 percent from 2015, followed by oil products (9.8 percent), tobacco (7.8 percent), lifts 3.7 percent) and steel pipes (3.5 percent).
Imports from Russia were mainly oil products (70.7 percent), natural gas (13.1 percent), copper (1.5 percent) and wheat (1.0 percent).
