Swedish imports from Russia have decreased by 90 percent in one year, which is the most in the EU and the trend is heading towards zero, according to an analysis by Kommerskollegium. The Union’s average decline is 5 percent.
The EU agreed on a tenth package of sanctions against Russia in connection with the anniversary of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year. The year before, Sweden imported 2.3 billion euros worth of Russian goods, while imports from March 2022 through February 2023 fell to 240 million, according to Kommerskollegium’s analysis of Eurostat figures.
– It is a clear trend that Swedish companies are reducing their imports from Russia. Since the start of the war, imports have decreased month by month and will soon be completely wiped out if the trend continues, says the authority’s analyst Nils Norell in a press release.
Many of the Union’s member states have a significantly greater dependence on Russian oil and gas, but even if these fuels are excluded from the total, it is still Sweden that has reduced imports from Russia the most. The Chamber of Commerce’s analysis is that the EU as a whole reduced Russian imports by 5 percent and that twelve countries even increased imports during the war year.
– To some extent, the different development can be explained by the fact that several EU countries have had and have a great dependence on Russian oil and gas, which has been marked by sharp price increases. In addition to this, the countries have had varying degrees of difficulty changing suppliers for other goods as well and therefore choose to continue importing Russian goods that are not covered by the sanctions. It is also conceivable that the pressure to limit trade with Russia differs between EU countries, says Nils Norell.
The Chamber of Commerce concludes that Sweden is also high among the EU countries’ reduced exports to Russia in the past year. The Union’s total exports decreased by 48 percent and the Swedish by 65, sixth after Malta, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Romania and Denmark.
