Finland's exports to Russia and Central Asia dropped by 68.9 percent from 2021 to 2023, according to Eurostat data.
The European number-crunching agency's figures showed that in 2021, Finland's share of the EU's exports to Russia and Central Asia still stood at 3.9 percent, but in 2023 the share dropped to 1.9 percent.
Finland's exports to its eastern neighbour declined after Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago, on 24 February 2022.
At the beginning of the deadly attacks, Finnish Customs noted that EU sanctions against Russia could affect a significant number of Finnish companies that conducted business with the country.
Eurostat's figures suggest that, on average, Finnish companies reduced exports to those regions more significantly than firms in other EU countries.
Over those two years, the EU's exports to Russia dropped by 50.9 billion euros, while the bloc's exports to Central Asia grew by 14 billion euros. Eurostat's definition of Central Asia in this case included the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Finland's 68.9 percent decline in exports to Russia and Central Asia reflected the third-most significant decrease among other European countries, according to Eurostat.
EU countries' exports to Russia fell by 57 percent over that two-year period — except Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Croatia, which saw increased exports to both Russia and Central Asia.
In 2021, Finland's exports to Russia and Central Asia were valued at 3.9 billion euros, while the following year they amounted to 2.5 billion euros. That reflected a decrease of 37.2 percent. Then, in 2023 Finnish exports to the region dropped again to 1.2 billion euros which was some 50 percent less compared to 2022 and 68.9 percent less than in 2021.
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