Four rounds of economic sanctions by the European Union--and a 5th proposed by the European Commission--have highlighted the importance of trade in goods and services with Russia. Luxembourg’s statistics bureau Statec analysed this with regard to the grand duchy, basing itself on international trade in goods and on the balance of payments (goods and services based on the change in ownership). It concluded that economic exchanges in terms of value are not very important for Luxembourg.

Exports of goods to Russia represented 0.9% of all exports in 2020, while imports were equal to just 0.1% of the total trade. In the balance of payments, the relative share of credits and debits for goods and services is 1.7% and 1.1% respectively for the same year. “However, a word of caution is in order,” warned Statec in a press release. "Indeed, goods of Russian origin imported via a third country are recorded as trade with that third country and not as imports from Russia. This is particularly true for natural gas, for which it is impossible to obtain reliable information."

“If we look at international trade in goods with Russia, we see that exports to Russia (€112m) far exceeded imports from Russia (€24m), for the last year with complete data available,” Statec explained. Luxembourg's trade balance is therefore largely positive, at €88m.

Exports of goods and services with Russia for the last year amount to almost €600m, while imports represent almost half of that amount--€320 m.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.