Commodity Trade of Russia with the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2012–2021

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to identify the patterns of mutual trade in goods between Russia and the Czech Republic and Slovakia over the past decade – from 2012 to  2021. The objectives of the work were to determine the significance of the Czech Republic and Slovakia for Russia as trading partners and Russia for them, to analyze the cost indicators of mutual trade in dynamics over 10  years, explain these dynamics, consider the commodity structure of trade and its changes within five most important commodity groups. Russia accounts for 2–3  % of the trade turnover of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, it is a more significant partner for both countries than they are for Russia. Anti-Russian sanctions and the pandemic have lowered the indicators of mutual trade, although both countries have managed to ease sanctions on the export of the most significant goods to Russia. The basis of Russian exports is mineral fuel, the dependence on which the Czech Republic and Slovakia have slightly decreased over the decade. The high export of cars from Russia to the Czech Republic over three years has reflected the upward trend in exports of Russian-made foreign cars abroad. The import from the Czech Republic and Slovakia of the commodity group “Nuclear reactors, boilers, equipment and mechanical devices; parts of them”, which is several times higher than the export of these goods from Russia, is explained by the cooperation of Rosatom with Czech and Slovak manufacturers of equipment for the nuclear industry, as well as the transfer of Czech companies into the ownership of the Russian companies and their receipt of large orders from Russia.