Russia is Estonia’s main export partner

Tallinn: Russia was Estonia’s biggest export partner in July for the first time in almost two decades as demand from the Baltic nation’s traditional Nordic partners faded because of the European debt crisis.

Exports to Russia rose 35 per cent from a year earlier to 155 million euros (Dh725 million), or 15 per cent of all goods shipped out of the country, the Tallinn-based statistics office said on its website on Tuesday. Sweden was second at 154 million euros, followed by Finland with 150 million euros, the office said.

Estonia, which adopted the euro last year, faces weakening demand for its goods from Sweden and Finland after helping the $19 billion economy expand 7.6 per cent, the fastest pace in the 27-member European Union.

Exports to Russia last exceeded those to either Nordic country in 1994, three years after Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union, according to the statistics office.

Re-exports of front-loading excavators, imported from the UK, totalled 28 million euros, making up the biggest share of sales to Russia, according to statistics office data.