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According to a report by Polish news portal Forsal.pl, in the second half of 2022, Poland’s exports to Russia had started growing again. The finding is based on data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics bureau, which show that Poland is in third place among EU suppliers to Moscow.
In Q4 2022, Polish exports to Russia totaled €1.2 billion. Although this is 44 percent less than a year earlier, at the same time it was a better result than in Q2 or Q3 2022.
As late as January-February 2022, i.e. at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Polish exports to Russia exceeded 600 million euros per month. Already in March they fell by half, to just over 300 million euros, and a month later it was less than 200 million euros. Western countries then began to impose sanctions on Russia. Some of the sanctions concerned restrictions on exports of selected groups of goods. Poland was apparently not a supplier of such items, because
since June 2022 the monthly value of exports has increased and systematically exceeds 300 million euros. Last October and November it was even over 400 million euros, reported Forsal.
Figures: Eurostat
Poland in third place among EU suppliers
In all of 2022, exports from Poland to Russia amounted to almost €4.7 billion. It was 40 percent less than a year earlier. Poland ranked third among EU suppliers to the Russian market. The country was overtaken by Germany, whose sales to Russia amounted to €14.1 billion (44 percent less than a year earlier), and Italy, which recorded a drop of just 23 percent to €5.8 billion.
The Netherlands (45 percent), France (52 percent) and Finland (44 percent) had larger export declines than Poland. Latvia, on the other hand, saw an increase of 16 percent, to €2.2 billion, and Estonia saw an increase of 4 percent, to €744 million. Exports to Russia from Bulgaria also increased, up 14 percent, to 479 million euros.
Figures: Eurostat
Hungarian exports to Russia. Source: tradingeconomics.com
In January, Polish exports to Russia amounted to 320 million euros. It thus remained above the €300 million level, although at the same time it was the lowest since June 2022. The most important group of export products was machinery industry products. Russia received such products from Poland worth almost €830 million, albeit this is 57 percent less than a year earlier. In second place were plastics and products made from them. Sales of this type of goods were worth 371 million euros. Compared to 2021, it decreased by 21 percent. The third position – sales worth 353 million euros – was occupied by pharmaceutical products. Here, however, Warsaw saw an increase in sales of 18 percent. Another group of goods where Poland recorded an increase in exports to Russia last year was footwear.
Among the products that were important in Poland’s exports to Russia in 2021, sales of vehicles declined by 69 percent, to €215 million, and sales of electrical products fell by 51 percent, to €328 million. The leaders of the sales declines, by all accounts, were explosives (down 97 percent) and arms and ammunition (down 94 percent). In both of these cases, articles from Poland worth a total of several thousand euros entered the Russian market.
Imports from Russia, however saw a greater decrease. In Q4 2022, imports amounted to €2.3 billion, 61 percent less than a year earlier. As a result, Poland dropped to seventh place on the list of the EU’s largest buyers from Russia. A year earlier they were in second place.
Germany remains the leader, having taken supplies from Russia worth €4.1 billion in Q4 2022. This is 49 percent less than a year earlier. In second place is the Netherlands, which, however, recorded a 23 percent increase in imports to €3.8 billion. There was a significant increase for Hungary, which moved to third place in the last three months of last year from 13th place a year earlier. This was the result of a 194 percent increase in imports to €3.6 billion. Large increases were also recorded for Slovenia (347 percent) or Bulgaria (61 percent).
Via Forsal.pl; Featured Photo: Pixabay