Russia’s Export Specialization in Africa

The paper is devoted to the study of Russia’s export specialization in the countries of Africa in the period from 2001 to 2017. A comprehensive analysis of the dynamics, the commodity and geographical structure of Russian exports to the African continent has been carried out. Using bilateral trade data for product groups at the level of two digits of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), this study examines the main patterns of comparative advantage in Russia’s trade with the countries of the region in the early 21st century. Based on the calculation results of the bilateral revealed comparative advantage index (RCA), authors identified a group of Russia’s trade partners in Africa, characterized by the largest number of export specialization product groups: Algeria, Angola, Guinea, Egypt, South Africa. Comparative analysis of Russia’s export specialization in Africa with the main partners in terms of trade turnover indicates, that Russia has more diverse comparative advantages in trade with some African countries (17 product groups), than with European ones, such as Germany (9 product groups) and Netherlands (8 groups). The study shows that Russia has export specialization in the following main product groups in African countries: HS 84 ‘Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof ’, HS 85‘Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof ’, HS 87 ‘Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts and accessories thereof ’, HS 48‘Paper and paperboard’ and HS 10‘Cereals’. The authors revealed, that the intensity of Russia’s export specialization in African countries increases with the augmentation of the technical complexity of products exported. It proves that Russian industrial products have competitive advantages in the African market. The development and strengthening of economic cooperation with Africa is one of the most important direction of non-commodity and non-energy exports expansion and geographical diversification of Russian trade. The paper concludes by discussing the promising avenues for the future Russian-African export partnership.