Poland's trade volume with former Soviet border states continues to decline
Polish trade turnover with Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is dropping.
Russia is still the eleventh largest importer of Polish goods and it is
the third largest source of imports to Poland. The Russian crisis and
increased fees for trade permits resulted in a drop in bazaar sales and
other sectors. Food sales dropped by over half last year. Two years ago
15% of Polish furniture was finding its way to the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) and at present it is less than 6%. Exports of
metal products dropped by 43%, paper by 26% and machines and
transportation by 86%. The cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries were
also hit by the crisis in trade with the CIS by 40% and 33% respectively.
Unofficially bazaar trade was counter-balancing the trade deficit in 1996
and now it accounts for only 2.6% of the trade deficit says the Market
Economy Research Institute (IBnGR). (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 1, 3)
