In January-March 2016 Kazakhstan’s trade with partners in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) fell by 28.6% year-on-year to $2.63bn. However, trade with the EEU member states decreased less than the country’s foreign trade in general, which contracted by 30% to $13.48bn.
Trade deficit with the EEU stood at $893.2mln as imports were double the exports in monetary terms.
Kazakh exports fell by 20.3% to $869.2mln in January-March, while imports by 32.1% to $1.76bn. Exports decreased largely due to weak economic activity in the free-trade bloc and unfavourable market conditions on the global markets of raw materials and imports went down due to the depreciation of the tenge. Both exports to and imports from the EEU are significantly diversified – there are no goods occupying “monopoly” positions. For example, Kazakh exports of oil, petroleum products (including raw petroleum products, gasoils and bitumen) and gas condensate to EEU countries totalled a meagre $17m.
Russia remained Kazakhstan’s key trading partner in the EEU, dominating particularly apparently in Kazakh imports. In January-March Kazakhstan exported goods worth $804.9mln (12.5% down) to this country and imported goods worth $1.69bn (31% down).
