The Russian Embassy in Madrid reported that the volume of trade between Russia and Spain last year increased by 8.5% compared to 2021 and amounted to about 9 billion euros.
An embassy source added in an interview with a TASS correspondent: “Despite Madrid joining the EU sanctions against Russia and despite the general negative background of our relations, bilateral trade in 2022 showed a positive trend and amounted to 8.9 billion euros. +8.5% compared to 2022 (2021).
The embassy said that Russian exports to Spain increased by 26.4% to 7.6 billion euros, while Spanish imports to Russia decreased by 42% to 1.28 billion euros.
The source continued: “These figures are largely due to the increase in Spain’s imports of Russian LNG here (by 46%) and, in general, the increase in the cost of fuel and energy products.”
The source said: “Despite the plans announced by the Spanish authorities to reduce purchases of Russian energy, in 2022 they increased Russian gas imports by 46% (from 37,000 to 54,000 GWh), which allowed Russia to again take fourth place in the list of the largest gas suppliers (12.1% of the total). This trend continued in the first months of this year. For example, in February, 5.5 thousand gigawatt-hours of Russian gas were exported to Spain, which is 151% more than in February 2022.
Source: TASS