Azerbaijan, Baku, March 13 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Kazakhstan's trade turnover with Customs Union countries (Russia and Belarus) increased by 12.9 percent in January, 2012 compared to the same period of 2011, the Kazakh Statistics agency reported.
In January 2012 Kazakhstan's trade turnover with Russia and Belarus hit $1.476 billion, including $487.5 million of Kazakh export (4.5 percent decrease compared to January, 2011) and $988 million of Kazakh import.
Kazakhstan mainly exported mineral products (43.4 percent of all products exported to the Customs Union), metals and articles thereof (31.8 percent) and chemical products (12.0 percent).
Meanwhile the main products exported by Kazakhstan from Russia and Belarus are mineral products (30.5 percent of all products exported from the Customs Union), machinery and equipment (18.7 percent), metals and articles thereof (14.2 percent) and products of chemical industry (12.5 percent).
The Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus has been operating since 2010. It aims at forming a single customs zone where no duties or economic restrictions are applied, except special protective, antidumping and compensatory measures. The Common Economic Space within the Customs Union started to operate from Jan.1, 2012.