Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2025 number 4

The article reveals the sectoral and geographical structures of foreign trade turnover of Siberian regions with its bordering countries: China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. It highlights the place of Siberia in the structure of the Russian economy, and the problem of distortion of its statistical indicators. The role of Siberia’s foreign trade on a national and global scale, as well as the dynamics of its share and value indicators since 2017 are analyzed. The geographical structure of Siberia’s trade turnover is revealed. The issues of the Russia’s role in its trade with China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia are touched upon. The share and value indicators of trade turnover, and commodity groups of exports and imports of each Siberian region with countries adjacent to Siberia, are calculated. A more detailed attention is paid to the leading regions in the structures of export and import. The features of the foreign trade structures of various Siberian regions are identified. The importance of foreign trade with China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia for the regions of Siberia is revealed. The article touches upon the issue of the emerging competition between Siberia and Mongolia in the export of similar commodity groups to foreign markets, primarily coal, copper ores and concentrates. The routes of commodity flows between Siberia and neighboring countries are explained. The main border crossings in the trade turnover with the countries under consideration are identified. The issues related to China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative are briefly touched upon. The article also considers issues of the future foreign trade turnover of Siberia with neighboring countries, such as the predicted increase in the role of China and Kazakhstan in Siberia’s foreign trade in the near term, and the instability of the prospects for trade between Mongolia and Siberia due to the narrow range of goods they supply. An analysis is made of the transformation of the geographical directions of the foreign trade structure on a national scale in the early 2020s using the example of the export of coal as the main cargo of Siberian railways. Specific cases of prospects for the development of Siberian foreign trade relations are predicted. The article concludes by examining the emerging need to diversify the geographical structure of Russia’s foreign trade.