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Foreign Trade of Belarus

Foreign trade in goods

The structure of the industry of the Republic of Belarus, the geographical position of the country and historical relations have identified a high degree of openness of the economy, its focus on foreign markets. Exports of goods are about 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, imports are about 60 per cent.

In the last decade, the dynamics of foreign trade of the Republic of Belarus is characterized by rapid growth in trade turnover. This is caused by the growing economic, scientific and technical potential.

However, the negative trend of the declining foreign trade in the world in 2009 due to global financial and economic crisis also affected the foreign trade of the Republic of Belarus.

The dynamics of foreign trade in goods of the Republic of Belarus is charted below.

USD Million

	2000	2005	2008	2009	2010
Trade turnover	15 972,6	32 687,4	71 952,1	49 873,2	60 167,9
Export	7 326,4	15 979,3	32 570,8	21 304,2	25 283,5
Import	8 646,2	16 708,1	39 381,3	28 569,0	34 884,4
Balance	-1 319,8	-728,8	-6 810,5	-7 264,8	-9 600,9

The list of major export articles is diverse and has over 1000 positions. Major export commodities of Belarus are potash and nitrogen fertilizers, oil products, rolled steel, metal cord, trucks, tractors, chemical fibers and yarns, caprolactam, tires, furniture, refrigerators and freezers, wood products, clothing, shoes, dairy and meat products, sugar.

Belarus imports, mainly, energy resources (oil and oil products, natural and liquefied gas, electricity), raw materials and components (metals and metal products, raw materials for chemical industry, spare parts and components for machinery, equipment and vehicles).

Trade in energy resources and raw materials is the main reason for the negative trade balance of the country.

The number of trade partners worldwide is natural evidence of how open Belarusian economy is. Today Belarus has trade relations with more than 180 countries around the world.

The Russian Federation is a major trade partner of the Republic of Belarus. It accounts for one third of the Belarusian exports and a half of its imports.

The European Union is the second largest trade partner. Belarus has the most developed trade and economic relations with Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Latvia, Italy, Lithuania, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Sweden and Hungary.

Ukraine is the second key partner in terms of turnover among the CIS countries.

Under the framework of the Customs Union there has been a significant growth in the bilateral trade with Kazakhstan. In the foreign trade of Belarus with the CIS countries Kazakhstan is the third largest partner.

There is positive dynamics in cooperation with traditional partners in Africa and Asia, notably with China, Vietnam, Iran, Korea, Republic of South Africa and the Gulf states.

Last year the volume of trade with the key partners in Latin America such as Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina increased significantly.

Foreign trade in services

The negative trade balance in goods is partly recovered by positive results of the trade in services.

The dynamics of the foreign trade in services of the Republic of Belarus is charted below.

USD Million

	2000	2005	2008	2009	2010
Trade turnover	1 535,9	3 166,0	6 751,1	5 523,8	7 263,8
Export	1 000,3	2 072,7	4 187,6	3 482,0	4 478,2
Import	535,6	1 093,3	2 563,5	2 041,8	2 785,6
Balance	464,7	979,4	1 624,1	1 440,2	1 692,6

Mainly, exports in services are represented by road, rail, air and pipeline transportation. They account for around two thirds of the services export.

Major export positions include travel, communication, computer, IT and construction services. Currently, these services are actively developing and have a significant potential for growth.

The main trading partner is the EU. It accounts for about half of the export of services.

The Russian Federation accounts for another quarter of services export.

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