We often write about America’s top trading partners and generally focus on the top partners that account for 80% of trade but we were curious about who were Russia’s big trading partners. Data from Worlds Top Exports reports:
- China: US$48.9 billion (14.6% of Russia’s total exports)
- Netherlands: $24.8 billion (7.4%)
- United Kingdom: $23.2 billion (6.9%)
- Germany: $18.5 billion (5.5%)
- Belarus: $16 billion (4.8%)
- Turkey: $15.5 billion (4.6%)
- Kazakhstan: $14 billion (4.2%)
- South Korea: $12.4 billion (3.7%)
- United States: $11 billion (3.3%)
- Italy: $10 billion (3%)
- Poland: $9.5 billion (2.8%)
- Japan: $9.1 billion (2.7%)
- Finland: $7.1 billion (2.1%)
- Ukraine: $5.9 billion (1.8%)
- India: $5.8 billion (1.7%)
Over two-thirds (69.1%) of Russian exports in 2020 were delivered to the above 15 trade partners.
Almost all of the countries on the list except China have effectively stopped transacting with Russia in one form or another. The sanctions against Russia will end up being painful for the average Russian citizen and there are rumors of bank runs in the country as this post is written. The wealthy have seemingly left Russia already but rumor has it they are not having a good time in their sanctuaries as the EU and others limit access to their countries.
We caution again that markets will likely become highly volatile over the next few weeks or months. It is possible Russia begins to default on all obligations and that could set a chain reaction around the world. The US stock market may drop significantly and we’ll be ready to bounce on companies with positive long term outlook that are well diversified across a global customer base.
Stay tuned and stay solvent…