Russia's leading five export partners in 2023 were China, India, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Brazil. The value of total exports from Russia to its major trade partner — China — exceeded *** billion U.S. dollars. Trade between Russia and China China was not only the leading export destination of Russian commodities, but also the major import partner of the country. Prior to 2018, the value of Russian imports from China prevailed the Russian exports’ worth to the country. It was in 2018 when for the first time, the trade balance of Russia with China turned positive and amounted to about *** billion U.S. dollars. Russia's primary export goods, mineral and energy products, were also the most imported commodities by China from the country. Russian trade with Europe Trade flows between Russia and the EU have been in decline over the past years. In 2023, the EU export value to Russia exceeded ** billion U.S. dollars — roughly ** billion U.S. dollars below the EU imports’ worth from Russia in that year. Germany was the major importer of Russian goods in the region.

The United States imported an average of 147,000 barrels of petroleum per day from Russia in 2022. The U.S. Congress passed a bill banning imports from oil, gas, coal, and other energy commodities from Russia in April 2022 as a reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other Western countries did the same as an effort to penalize and put economic pressure on Russia. According to a survey from March 2022, 49 percent of U.S. registered voters supported the government's sanctions on Russian oil exports.

Market and price uncertainty

Even though Russia was among the leading countries for petroleum imports into the U.S., market disruptions caused by the imposed sanctions have still severely impacted U.S. average gas prices. In June 2022, gasoline prices reached a new peak of more than five U.S. dollars per gallon. By comparison, diesel prices climbed to around 5.8 U.S. dollars. With the world still grappling with the economic repercussions brought on by the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war added another layer of uncertainty over market development. According to a June 2022 outlook, the average global GDP growth forecast change due to the Russia-Ukraine war was a 1.44 percent decrease to the projection made before the war. Only five countries out of the 42 included in the study were forecast to have a positive GDP growth.

Russia accounted for 18.19 percent of the value of natural gas imports into the European Union (EU) from non-EU countries in the first quarter of 2025. The share was higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year, but significantly lower than in 2021. The decrease was due to the Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the reduction of gas supplies by Gazprom to Europe. Which EU countries import gas from Russia? In 2023, the EU imported 27 billion cubic meters of natural gas via pipelines from Russia, compared to 140 billion cubic meters in 2021. Among the EU countries, Germany was by far the largest importer of natural gas from Russia. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries such as Poland, Czechia, and Hungary also ranked in the top 10 before the war in Ukraine given their high dependence on Russian gas. After the onset of the war in 2022, Turkey and China emerged as some of the largest buyers of Russian pipeline gas. The future of natural gas in a climate-neutral Europe Gas continues to be the second-most important primary energy source in the EU, after petroleum-based products. However, to stay within the Paris Agreement’s target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the EU is actively looking for ways to accelerate the transition to more renewable sources of energy, including the adoption of the European Green Deal and the Commission’s "Fit for 55" proposal and RePowerEU plan. Under these sustainable scenarios, the European gas demand is estimated to fall from 617 billion cubic meters in 2018 to 380 billion cubic meters in 2040.

For North Macedonia, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia was the only source of natural gas supply in 2019. Another European country highly dependent on Russian gas was Latvia, where it occupied over ** percent of the total in 2021. In Estonia, the portion of natural gas from Russia was significantly lower, measured at ** percent. Russia accounted for over ** percent of all extra-EU gas imports in 2021. How much natural gas does Russia export? Russia is the leading exporter of natural gas worldwide, far outpacing the exports of that commodity by the United States, Qatar, and Norway. In 2021, the country exported ***** billion cubic meters of gas via pipelines and **** billion cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG). The exports increased continuously between 2014 and 2019, while the year 2020 saw a ****-percent decline in the volume as a result of a lower fuel demand during imposed lockdowns and slower economic activity due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Russian gas exports during the war in Ukraine Exports of Russian gas to Europe were severely affected by the invasion of Ukraine which began in February 2022. In response to the war, European countries sought to reduce their reliance on Russian gas. Between January 1 and July 15, 2022, the Russian company Gazprom exported over ** percent less gas to the far abroad compared to the same period of the previous year. Furthermore, Germany announced the suspension of the certification process for Nord Stream 2, while Russia shut down all gas supplies via Nord Stream 1 in September 2022, before leaks were detected on both pipelines. Gas exports from Russia to India and China also did not increase in monetary terms in July and August 2022 in comparison to February and March 2022.

The monthly price of wheat (hard red winter) in the United States reached an all time high in May 2022, at over *** U.S. dollars per metric ton. The unprecedented price increase began in mid-2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was later exacerbated by the Russo-Ukrainian War in March 2022. Before the war, Russia and Ukraine were among the world's five largest wheat exporters, and around one third of all international wheat imports came from these two countries. The increase of 96 dollars per ton between February and March 2022 was the single largest price hike in U.S. history, and was only the second time that prices had exceeded 400 dollars - the first time this happened was due to the financial crisis of 2008. In the five years before the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of wheat generally fluctuated between 150 and 230 dollars per ton.