Nizhny Novgorod, one of the largest industrial and economic regions of European Russia, continues to be a solid trade partner that enjoys a significant growth of its foreign trade turnover for the past few consecutive years. The data for the 9 months of 2018, as published by the Greater Volga Division of the Russian Federal Customs Service (http://ptu.customs.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9715:-2010-2014-&catid=248:2015-03-18-12-51-32&Itemid=288 ), mentions the increase of the regional foreign trade turnover by 25.4% to over USD 6.23 billion. This is less than the whopping +53.4% for the 9 months of 2017, but still well in line with the upward trend applying to all of Russia's foreign trade for the past few years.

The regional exports increased by 36.2% to USD 3.62 billion, and the imports accounted for USD 2.4 billion, which is a 12% increase. The principal groups of imported goods are machine building items (43.4%), chemical products and rubber (29%), metals and metal products (10.7%), and foodstuffs and ingredients (7.8%). The region's main exports are metal and its products (30.6%), mineral products (26.2%), machine building items (20.1%), and chemical products and rubber (11.6%). The main regional trade partners in the CIS remain Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, while the largest other ones are Germany, the Netherlands, China, Turkey and France. Nizhny Novgorod, being the administrative centre of the Greater Volga Federal district that unites 14 regions and republics with the population of over 29 million (21% of all Russia), keeps well surpassing the general foreign trade turnover growth level of the district itself, which in 9 months of 2018 was registered at 15.5% (USD 41.9 bn).