In January-May 2009 traded with 159 countries, exporting to 121 countries and importing from 144 countries, the National Statistics Committee told. 

The area of Belarus’  trade has expanded since early this year. For comparison, in January traded with 127 countries, exporting commodities to 86 countries and importing products from 118 countries. 

In January-May Belarus’ main trade partners were Russia (47.9% of the total trade), the Netherlands (7.9%), Germany (5.7%), Ukraine (5.6%), Latvia (3.4%), Poland (3.3%), China (2.6%), the UK (2%) as well as Italy and India. 

In January-May 2009 the Belarusian export to shrank by 47.2% to $2392.5 million, with the country accounting for 33% of Belarus’ export volume. The export to the went down by 50.2% to $1311.9 million. Consequences of the global crisis have affected ’ trade with many other countries. Thus, in January-May Belarus’ export to amounted to $520 million (40.3% as against the same period last year), — $303.3 million (46.4%), — $240 million (61.1%), — $559 million (69.6%). Export to India, meanwhile, increased more than 2.3 times to $207.9 million. 

In January-May 2009 Belarus’ merchandise trade amounted to $17.685 billion, or 59.8% as against the same period last year. Belarus’ export shrank to $7.241 billion (52% to January-May 2008), with the import down to $10.444 billion (66.7%).

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