Belarus imported 3.05 million tons of crude from Russia in the first quarter of the year, cutting back its imports from its big neighbour by 43.2 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, Belstat reports. At the end of January, after a month-long spat, Minsk and Moscow signed an agreement under which Russia introduced duties for the lager part of crude supplies. After this, Minsk announced it would be forced to cut the volume of its purchases.
After the duty was introduced, the average price of a ton of imported crude jumped 50 percent to $368 in the first quarter. The import of crude on which Russia levies the duty fell nearly 80 percent to 111,000 tons. At the same time, Belarus reduced production of its own oil products by one-third and exports 40 percent less oil products - just 2.246 million tons.
