Data extracted in May 2025
Planned article update: August 2025
Highlights
This article provides a picture of the international trade of main product groups exchanged between the European Union (EU) and Russia. More general information on trade with Russia is available in 
this excel file. This article is part of an online publication providing recent statistics on international trade in goods, covering information on the EU's main partners, main goods traded, specific characteristics of trade as well as background information.
Latest developments
EU trade with Russia has been strongly affected since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The EU has imposed various import and export restrictions on several products, resulting in a 58% decline in exports to Russia and an 86% drop in imports from Russia between the first quarters of 2022 and 2025 (see Figure 1). More recently, in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter, imports from Russia decreased while exports to Russia increased. The EU's trade deficit with Russia stood at €0.8 billion, significantly below the deficit peak of €46.6 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
When looking at the changes in Russia's shares in extra-EU trade, both exports and imports dropped considerably below the levels prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Figure 2 shows that Russia's share in the extra-EU exports fell from 3.2% in the first quarter of 2022 to 1.1% in the first quarter of 2025. Over the same period, the share of extra-EU imports from Russia fell from 9.3% to 1.3%.
When looking at quarterly data, the EU's total trade balance with Russia is strongly correlated with the balance for energy products. High prices for energy products in 2021 and 2022 caused a considerable trade deficit for energy products, peaking at €42.8 billion in the second quarter of 2022. However, import restrictions and falling energy prices significantly reduced this trade deficit to €5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2025.
Source: Eurostat dataset (ext_st_eu27_2020sitc)
Key product groups imported by the EU from Russia
Figure 4 focuses on 5 product groups imported from Russia, selected because of their relevance with respect to total extra-EU imports in terms of share or in terms of their absolute value. These products accounted for more than 60% of all EU imports from Russia. There were import restrictions for natural gas, coal and petroleum oils with derogations. There were also restrictions for iron and steel and fertilisers, but not for all products in these product groups. These restrictions initially caused large drops in the imports of these products, although other factors could also have played a role. For imports of nickel there were no direct restrictions but here too, imports decreased considerably. The following paragraph shows how the importance of each selected product, in terms of share, has changed compared to the first quarter of 2021.
EU imports of nickel
Even though nickel was not on the list of directly sanctioned products, the EU began diversifying its dependence on Russia by increasing nickel imports from other countries. Between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2025, the EU’s share of nickel imports from Russia dropped from 41.2% to 18.9% (a decrease of 22 percentage points), while the import shares from the United States (+12 pp), Norway (+4 pp), and the United Kingdom (+4 pp) increased during the same period.
EU imports of petroleum oil
In the first quarter of 2021, Russia was the largest supplier of petroleum oils to the EU. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major shift occurred in the EU’s petroleum oil trade. The EU ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude oil, which entered into force on 5 December 2022, along with the subsequent embargo on refined oil products, contributed to a significant decrease in imports of these goods from Russia. As a consequence, the share of petroleum oil imports from Russia fell from 29% in the first quarter of 2021 to just 2% in the first quarter of 2025 (see Figure 6). Over the same period, import shares from the United States (+6 pp), Norway (+4 pp), and Kazakhstan (+3 pp) increased.
EU imports of fertilisers
In the first quarter of 2025, Russia remained the largest supplier of fertilizers — a category of goods not yet affected by restrictions or import duties. Russia's share in extra-EU imports of fertilisers slightly fell from 28% in the first quarter of 2021 to 26% in the first quarter of 2025 (see Figure 7). In the same period of 2025. Egypt (20%) and Morocco (10%) were the next largest sources of fertiliser imports.
EU imports of iron and steel
The value of the EU's imports of iron and steel from Russia increased strongly in 2021 mainly due to rising prices. Subsequently, drops in volume and value were observed because of sanctions on several products. Russia's share in extra-EU imports of iron and steel fell by 10 pp in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the first quarter of 2025 (see Figure 8). South Korea and China were the largest origin for EU imports of iron and steel, both with a share of 10% in the first quarter of 2025.
EU imports of liquefied natural gas
The value of EU imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia increased considerably between the first quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2022 as prices increased sharply. Russia's share in EU imports of liquefied natural gas decreased from 22% in the first quarter of 2021 to 19% in the first quarter of 2025 (see Figure 9). The highest share in the first quarter of 2025 was observed for the United States (48%).
Source: Eurostat (Comext DS-045409)
EU imports of natural gas in gaseous state
The value of EU imports of natural gas in gaseous state from Russia increased considerably between the first quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2022 as prices increased sharply. In the following quarters both volume and value decreased considerably. Russia's share in EU imports of natural gas in gaseous state dropped from 48% in the first quarter of 2021 to 17% in the first quarter of 2025 (see Figure 10). In this period the share for Norway (+11%) increased most, but Algeria (+5%) became the largest partner with 30%.
Source: Eurostat (Comext DS-045409)
Main product groups in EU exports to Russia
The EU also exported a wide range of products to Russia (Table 1). Between the first quarters of 2021 and 2025, exports for 4 (machinery, vehicles, electrical machinery, and plastics) of the 5 largest product groups dropped considerably, with pharmaceuticals being the exception. Pharmaceuticals stood at €2 351 million in the first quarter of 2025, having previously peaked at €2 484 million in the first quarter of 2023. The weight of these exports is shown in Table 2, confirming a significant drop in 4 out of the 5 largest product groups, while the volume of pharmaceutical products remained stable compared with the first quarter of 2021.
Source: Eurostat (Comext DS-045409)
Source: Eurostat (Comext DS-045409)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
EU data is taken from Eurostat's COMEXT database. COMEXT is the reference database for international trade in goods. It provides access not only to both recent and historical data from the EU Member States but also to statistics of a significant number of non-EU countries. International trade aggregated and detailed statistics disseminated via the Eurostat website are compiled from COMEXT data according to a monthly process.
Data are collected by the competent national authorities of the EU Member States and compiled according to a harmonised methodology established by EU regulations before transmission to Eurostat. For extra-EU trade, the statistical information is mainly provided by the traders on the basis of customs declarations.
EU data are compiled according to EU guidelines and may, therefore, differ from national data published by the Member States. Statistics on extra-EU trade are calculated as the sum of trade of each of the 27 EU Member States with countries outside the EU. In other words, the EU is considered as a single trading entity and trade flows are measured into and out of the area, but not within it.
Methodology
According to EU concepts and definitions, extra-EU trade statistics (trade between EU Member States and non-EU countries) do not record exchanges involving goods in transit, placed in a customs warehouse or given temporary admission (for trade fairs, temporary exhibitions, tests, etc.). This is known as 'special trade'. The partner is the country of final destination of the goods for exports and the country of origin for imports.
Product classification
Information on commodities exported and imported is presented according to the Harmonised System for product classification. A full description is available from Eurostat's classification server [1].
Figure 3 is based on the SITC classification in which the main categories are
- food, drinks and tobacco (Sections 0 and 1 - including live animals)
- raw materials (Sections 2 and 4)
- energy products (Section 3)
- chemicals and related products (Section 5 - including pharmaceuticals and plastics)
- machinery and transport equipment (Section 7)
- other manufactured goods (Sections 6 and 8)
- other goods (Section 9).
The products shown in Figures 4 to 18 are
- Nickel (HS 75)
- Petroleum oil (HS 2709 and HS 2710)
- Natural gas (HS 271111 and HS 271121)
- Fertilisers (HS 31) and
- Iron and steel (HS 72).
Unit of measure
Trade values are expressed in millions or billions (109) of euros. They correspond to the statistical value, i.e. to the amount which would be invoiced in case of sale or purchase at the national border of the reporting country. It is called an FOB value (free on board) for exports and a CIF value (cost, insurance, freight) for imports.
Context
Trade is an important indicator of Europe's prosperity and place in the world. The bloc is deeply integrated into global markets both for the products it sources and the exports it sells. The EU trade policy is one of the main pillars of the EU's relations with the rest of the world.
Because the 27 EU Member States share a single market and a single external border, they also have a single trade policy. EU Member States speak and negotiate collectively, both in the World Trade Organisation, where the rules of international trade are agreed and enforced and with individual trading partners. This common policy enables them to speak with one voice in trade negotiations, maximising their impact in such negotiations. This is even more important in a globalised world in which economies tend to cluster together in regional groups.
The openness of the EU's trade regime has meant that the EU is the largest player on the global trading scene and remains a good region to do business with. Thanks to the ease of modern transport and communications, it is now easier to produce, buy and sell goods around the world which gives European companies of every size the potential to trade outside Europe.