Lithuania's exports to Russia up 30 pct in 2017, goods of Lithuanian origin by 12 pct y/y

VILNIUS – The Russian market has little value for Lithuanian industrial companies, as it receives under 2.5 percent of the goods produced in Lithuania, however, the transport sector is strongly dependent on Russia, 15min.lt news portal said on Monday.

Lithuania's exports to Russia jumped by 30 percent in 2017 year-on-year, although some analysts underestimate reexports, which is a major driver for the transport sector. Exports of goods of Lithuanian origin also increased substantially by 12 percent.

"Our exports to Russia is growing because of two reasons. First of all, it is a very low base. When your exports is dropping by 62 percent over four years, the 12-percent increase is not surprising at all," Aleksandras Izgorodinas, economic adviser at the Lithuanian Industrialists Confederation, told the portal.

Indre Genyte-Pikciene, analyst at Luminor bank, says that 13.5 percent of all Lithuania's exports went to Russia in 2016 and around 15 percent in 2017.

"Our corridor between the West and the East is very evident in this case. Lithuania is strongly dependent on the re-exports flows. The Russian market remains very significant. The market accounts for around a third of all Lithuanian re-exports. The re-exports flows grew very significantly over the year. The re-exports resulted in overall increase of the exports rate," she said.

In her words, Lithuania has developed an efficient logistics chain: "Lithuania has logistics centers, all capacities of the transport sector that accommodate the flow of commodities and feed on it. Our transport sector is strongly dependent on such exports. We provide a large share of transport services to the Russian market."