Dynamics and structure of foreign trade of the Crimea: major trends analysis

The article analyzes key trends of the dynamics and the structure of export and imports of both goods and services in the Crimea in 2004-2014. The study of the geographic structure of foreign trade reveals the main groups of countries: CIS countries, Europe, Asia and America. The rest of countries are grouped as “Other countries”. The research in the commodity structure of foreign trade discloses basic commodity groups and major types of products. By export we differentiate the following commodity groups: “Products of chemical or allied industries”, “Mineral products”, “machinery, equipment and mechanisms; electrical equipment”, “food products”, “ferrous metal products”, “Cereals”; by import - “machinery, equipment and mechanisms; electrical equipment”, “Mineral products”, “Products of vegetable origin”, “Base metals and articles thereof ”, “Vehicles, aircraft, floating equipment”. Under the study of the services structure we identify most valuable export services of the Crimea: transport services, including the services of marine, rail, road and air transport, and services related to travelling (rest of foreign and domestic guests). In the analysis special attention is paid to the situation in foreign trade of the region in 2013 and 2014. The attempt is made to assess the possibility of restoring amounts of foreign trade up to the 2013 level in the short term. The final part of the article is devoted to the legislation, recently adopted at the federal level and aimed at the accelerated economic development of the peninsula: the federal target program “Socially-economic development of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol until 2020”, the federal law :On development of the Crimean Federal district and the free economic zone”; the decree of the Federation Council “On the integration of the Republic of Crimea in the economic, financial, social and legal system of the Russian Federation”.