Customs Committee posts foreign trade figures

The volume of Russia's foreign trade grew by 30.8 percent to $12.3bn in January 2003, compared to January 2002, the State Customs Committee reported. Foreign trade with countries outside the CIS amounted to $10.2bn (a 31.4 percent advance), and with CIS countries it was $2.1bn (a 27.7 percent gain).

According to the committee, in January 2003 Russian exports grew by 35.8 percent to $9.1bn, compared to the corresponding period of 2002, including $7.8bn to outside the CIS (+36.4 percent) and $1.3bn to the CIS (+32.2 percent).

The volume of Russian imports grew by 18.4 percent to $3.2bn, including $2.4bn from outside the CIS (+17.5 percent), and $800m from the CIS (+21.2 percent).