How dependent is the European Union on Russia?

A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.

• Russia sells 6% of what the world exports of nickel matte; next come Indonesia (54.8%), Canada (10.1%) and Zimbabwe (7%). The rest of the world exported 18.5 times what the European Union buys from Russia.
• Russia sells 26% of what the world exports of nuclear reactors and fuel; next come United States (7.5%), Kazakhstan (7%) and South Korea (5.9%). The rest of the world exported 2.4 times what the European Union buys from Russia.
• Russia sells 6.5% of what the world exports of steelmaking slag and waste; next come India (14.1%), United Arab Emirates (6%) and Turkey (5.8%). The rest of the world exported 11.1 times what the European Union buys from Russia.
• Russia sells 4.8% of what the world exports of rye; next come Canada (12.4%), United States (1.4%) and Ukraine (0.48%). The rest of the world exported 4.8 times what the European Union buys from Russia.
• Russia sells 5.9% of what the world exports of unroasted iron pyrites; next come Turkey (14.3%), Malaysia (4.4%) and China (3.3%). The rest of the world exported 28 times what the European Union buys from Russia.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

The European Union is Russia’s 3rd-largest customer, with 10.1% of its exports.

• Who does the European Union rely on?
• Who does Russia rely on?
• Dependence of the European Union on China
• Dependence of the European Union on the United States
• Dependence of the European Union on Switzerland
• Dependence of the European Union on the United Kingdom
• Dependence of the European Union on Ukraine
• Dependence of the European Union on Norway
• Dependence of the European Union on Brazil
• Dependence of the European Union on Turkey
• Dependence of the European Union on South Korea
• Dependence of the European Union on North Macedonia
• Dependence of the European Union on the Cayman Islands
• Dependence of the European Union on Morocco
• Dependence of the European Union on Côte d'Ivoire
• Dependence of the European Union on Tunisia
• Dependence of the European Union on Argentina
• Dependence of the European Union on Vietnam
• Dependence of the European Union on India
• Trade profile of Russia
• All countries

Sources and licenses

• CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
• Natural Earth · Public domain

Methodology

The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.

Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.

The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.

Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.

The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.

Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.