Armenia’s exports continued to fall significantly last month following unprecedented trade restrictions imposed by Russia, its main trading partner, according to official statistics.
Data released by the Armenian government’s Statistical Committee this week shows that they totaled $594.3 million, down by about 16 percent from July 2025. The exports fell by roughly 20 percent year on year in June.
Citing another government agency, the Food Safety Inspectorate, the pro-opposition publication Yerevan.today reported earlier this month that the physical volume of Armenian fruits, vegetables and cut flowers shipped abroad shrunk by half in June and July.
In late May and early June, the Russian authorities blocked on sanitary grounds multimillion-dollar imports of these products as well as Armenian mineral water, fish and some alcoholic beverages. Moscow imposed the bans as it pressed Yerevan to quickly choose between continuing to seek membership of the European Union and remaining part of a Russian-led trade bloc.
The government scrambled to mitigate the impact of the Russian embargo by offering subsidies to farmers and agribusiness firms that manage to find new export markets. It also secured a European Commission pledge to open the EU’s tightly protected and regulated market to Armenian agricultural products. Many of their exporters say they cannot quickly switch to the EU market due to a lack of established business contacts, much higher transport costs and the bloc’s stringent food safety standards.
The sanctions are one of the reasons for a sharp drop in Russian-Armenian trade recorded in the first half of this year. Despite that decrease, Russia remained Armenia’s number one trading partner and export market, accounting for 27.5 percent of its external commerce. Armenia’s first-half exports to Russia and the EU stood at $1.23 billion and $516 million respectively, according to the Statistical Committee.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has downplayed the impact of the Russian bans on the Armenian economy, arguing that it continued to grow robustly this summer. He has also ruled out any reversal of his European integration policy.
The World Bank expressed last month concern at possible consequences of the measures already taken by Moscow. “Should the [Russian] ban continue and widen without mitigation measures, the negative impacts could spill beyond trade and affect growth, prices and social conditions,” the bank said in a report.
