is quantitatively the most important destination for 20 regions. However, regions on the Eastern coast and the South-East of Russia are oriented toward Asia orientation, the latter mainly to China and the former to the rest of Asia. Data on the export orientation of Russian regions are from GTIS, which does not report Russian exports to Kazakhstan and Belarus, the other members of the EACU.

No matter what the export category, the EU-28 and the nonCU-CIS always rank either first or second in the count of products for which they are the main destination, with the third most frequent top destination being Rest of Asia. The EU-28 is the main destination for exports of oil, minerals,<sup>11</sup> and metals by most regions as well as for all non-oil and all non-mineral products when grouped together. Meanwhile, the nonCU-CIS is the main destination for exports from most regions of machinery & transport, food and agriculture, chemicals, and wood, though for the last two product categories the EU-28 is the main export destination for nearly as many regions. Rest of Asia is the third most frequently reported destination for exports of oil, metals, food and agriculture, and aggregate non-mineral exports.

When relating the analysis of export intensities and geographic orientation by product categories to that of leading and lagging regions of Russia, the EU-28 is the main destination for total exports of leading (55 percent) and middle-range (58 percent) federal regions. The nonCU-CIS is the main destination (55 percent) for the exports of most lagging regions. The same pattern emerges in analysis of the main markets for exports of wood, chemicals, non-oil products, and non-mineral products; a close but not identical pattern is observed in exports of metals, minerals, and oil.<sup>12</sup> This suggests that while pursuing export opportunities within the former Soviet Union may be of some benefit to lagging regions, high standards of living require the ability to compete globally.

Wood exports have a strong geographical orientation (see Figure 35), with the main destinations being near exporting federal regions, perhaps because transport costs as a share of the value of the goods are high. Even though the nonCU-CIS and the EU-28 are the two most targeted destinations for most regions in this product category, China is also a relatively big consumer of wood in that it is the most important destination in this product category for roughly twice as many of the regions for whom it is the main destination in the case of aggregate exports. These regions are also among those reporting the largest per capita values of wood exports.

The EU-28 is the main partner for Russia’s exports of metals from 33 federal regions—far above the 15 for whom the nonCU-CIS in the most important destination for metals, and the 13 for whom Rest of Asia is most important. The largest per capita exports of metals are quite evenly distributed across Russian territory, with notable clusters of federal regions reporting relatively high per capita values in the West (targeting mostly the EU-28 and nonCU-CIS); the Center (targeting mainly the EU-28 and in some cases Rest of Asia); and the Far East (targeting mainly Rest of Asia, and to a lesser extent China).

> 11 The definition of minerals includes oil.

> 12 In these three product categories, the majority of leading and middle-range regions still have the EU28 as their main export destination; lagging regions target the EU28 to an equal or slightly larger extent than the nonEACUCIS. Thus, even when the EU28 is the main destination for exports of certain products of a majority of lagging federal regions, there is still a relatively strong orientation toward the nonEACU-CIS, which is still the second most frequently reported main export destination and is close to the first.

15