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Soviet Union [USSR] Finland
In contrast to the variable trade relationships the Soviet
Union has had with other West European countries, its relationship
with Finland has been somewhat stable because of five-year
agreements that regulated trade between the countries. The first
was established in 1947, and 1986 marked the beginning of the
eighth. Accounting procedures and methods of payment were agreed
upon every five years as well by the Bank of Finland and
Vneshtorgbank. A steady growth in trade between the two countries
occurred throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
In the late 1980s, Finland was the Soviet Union's second most
important trading partner among the Western nations, after West
Germany. Trade with Finland, however, was based on
bilateral clearing agreements (see Glossary) rather than on
exchange of hard
currency used with other Western trading partners. In 1986 the
Soviet Union shipped 4 percent of its exports to and received 3
percent of its imports from Finland. Finland provided the Soviet
Union with ships, particularly those suited to Arctic conditions;
heavy machinery; and consumer goods such as clothing, textiles,
processed foodstuffs, and consumer durables. The Soviet Union
exported oil, natural gas, and fuel and technology for the nuclear
power industry.
The system of bilateral clearing agreements on which SovietFinnish trade was based required that any increase in Finnish
imports from the Soviet Union be accompanied by a corresponding
increase in exports to the Soviet Union in order to maintain the
bilateral trade balance. At the beginning of the 1980s, Finland
increased its imports of Soviet oil, which allowed it to increase
its exports to the Soviet Union. This procedure accounted for the
steady growth in Soviet-Finnish trade into the late 1980s. By 1988
about 90 percent of Soviet exports to Finland consisted of oil.
Because the Finns imported more oil than they could consume
domestically, they reexported it to other Scandinavian and West
European countries. The Finns complained in late 1987 and early
1988 of a decline in Soviet ship orders and delinquent payments.
The share of Finland's exports to the Soviet Union, which had
previously been as high as 25 percent, dropped to 15 percent in
1988.
Data as of May 1989
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