STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF RUSSIAN EXPORTS TO THE LATIN AMERICAN MARKETS

The Latin American region occupies a less significant share in the overall structure of Russian exports compared to traditional sales markets. Nevertheless, the region has recently been increasingly in the spotlight as a place for the geographical reorientation of foreign trade operations. Even though the corona crisis had a significant impact on the development of foreign trade relations with Latin America, export interest to the region was expressed in the pre-pandemic period through an increased volume of deliveries, a surplus in Russia’s trade balance and an increase in the number of counterparty countries. The article is devoted to the quantitative analysis of Russia’s foreign trade relations with the Latin America and the Caribbean. The empirical material for the analysis was a database that includes data on the export and import of Russian and Latin American goods in 2000-2020, as well as the countries to which these goods are exported or imported. The dataset contains information about the country of delivery, product code, cost, industry sector. Based on this database, a review of the qualitative structure of Russian exports in the region was carried out, considering the differentiation into raw materials, non-resource energy and non-resource non-energy supplies in the context of dividing into three stages: low, middle, and high value-added products. This approach contributed to the assessment of the diversification of Russian exports in terms of economic complexity. The article also gives an idea of the import structure of Latin American countries, which makes it possible to identify possible niches for Russian exports. In conclusion, the prospects for expanding Russian supplies to the region are presented and the challenges are identified that Russia may face in increasing its share of Latin American import markets.