Customs recorded a sharp increase in vaccine exports from Russia

How many vaccines Russia sent abroad

In the first five months of 2021, Russia sold abroad almost twice as many vaccines in value terms than in the previous three years in total. According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), according to the TN VED classification code 3002200009 (“other vaccines for humans”), 159 tons of pharmaceutical products worth $303.6 million were delivered to other countries from January to May of this year. In three years, from 2018 -th to 2020 - Russia exported 468.3 tons of medical products worth $182.1 million. If we compare Russia's foreign sales of vaccines year-on-year, since the beginning of 2021, Russian EXPORT deliveries in value terms have grown 31.8 times - for the same period in 2020, vaccines worth only $9.5 million were delivered abroad.

As Nikolai Bespalov, development DIRECTOR of the analytical company RNC Pharma, explained to RBC, 3002200009 is the main “vaccine” code: in 2020, 99% of medications in this category were supplied under it (it includes, among other things, vaccines against tick-borne encephalitis, combined vaccines against diphtheria , tetanus and pertussis, against hepatitis A), with the exception of vaccines against hepatitis B and rubella (their export is under separate articles).

As RBC was specified in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the export of vaccines for the prevention of a new CORONAVIRUS infection also goes under this code: “Of course, the growth in exports of products [under this code] is primarily associated with the supply of anti-covid vaccines to international markets.” The press service of the Federal Customs Service was unable to clarify the distribution of export volumes by types of vaccines, citing the fact that the trade nomenclature does not provide separate codes for classifying vaccines for humans in accordance with their names. “It is not possible to correctly determine the proportion of vaccines against a new coronavirus infection,” the service said.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade recalled that the Russian Direct Investment Fund has comprehensive information on the volume of exports, as it is promoting a vaccine for the prevention of a new coronavirus infection in foreign markets, but they declined to comment.