Share of goods trade among partners 2021

Of the three countries to the EU’s immediate east, Russia was by far the EU’s most important trading partner, and its fifth largest, when it launched its war on Ukraine. While it accounted for only 5.9 % of the EU’s external goods trade (exports plus imports) in 2021, Russia is nevertheless one of the EU’s most important suppliers of coal, gas and, especially, oil: in 2020, Russia provided almost 45 % of EU mineral fuel imports in euro terms, with crude oil imports accounting for more than three quarters of these imports. The EU is now phasing in a ban on Russian coal imports, however, and debating one on Russian oil imports. Belarus and Ukraine made up only very small shares of the EU’s external goods trade in 2021 – 0.03 % and 1.2 % respectively. Belarus’ main exports to the EU are wood, mineral products and base metals. Ukraine’s exports to the EU include raw materials such as iron, steel, mining products and agricultural products, chemical products, and machinery.
The EU represented a much larger share of the external goods trade of Russia (35.9 %), Belarus (19.9 %) and Ukraine (39.5 %), making the EU the most important partner for both Russia and Ukraine. EU exports to Russia in 2021 consisted mainly of machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment and machinery, and plastics. The EU was also a critical source of investment in Russia, accounting for 48 % of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Russia in 2019. In 2021, the EU’s main exports to Belarus were machinery, chemicals and transport equipment. Exports to Ukraine were mainly machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, and manufactured goods. Since 1997, EU-Russia trade relations have been framed by the trade-related provisions of the bilateral Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and, since 2012, Russia’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Belarus is not a WTO member. Ukraine joined in 2008. An EU-Ukraine association agreement, including a ‘deep and comprehensive free trade area’ (DCFTA), has been provisionally applied since 2016, during which time the EU has become Ukraine’s most important trading partner, ahead of both Russia and China.