The Formation of Russian Agrarian Trade Structure: Inter-industry vs. Intra-industry Trade Activities

Abstract

The paper is focused on specialization of Russia’s foreign trade in agrarian products and foodstuffs in terms of inter-industry and intra-industry trade. The main objective of this study is to analyse the extent of intra-industry trade in Russia’s foreign trade in agricultural products and to identify significant changes in trade patterns at the industry level over the transformation period (1996–2012).The results coming from individual conducted analyses provide a systematic decomposition of Russia’s foreign trade into three trade types: inter-industry, intra-industry in horizontally and vertically differentiated products. Inter-industry type of trade dominates in Russian foreign trade in agricultural and food products and accounts for about a third of total trade flows. The analysis revealed significant differences in the intensity of intra-industry trade, depending on geographic region. The lowest level of intra-industry trade is observed in relation to Africa and South America, the highest - in relation to CIS countries. There were also found some trends, including the expanding intra-industry trade in relation to the CIS countries, as well as a decrease in relation to Asian and EU countries.