ABSTRACT
The recent release of the official 1983 Soviet Foreign Trade Yearbook has made it possible for Western researchers to obtain an insight into the most recent developments in the commodity composition of Soviet trade in general and exports in particular. As has been true for a number of years now, the most important group of commodities in exports were fuels. In 1983 fuels accounted for 53.7% of total exports, 50.1 % of exports to socialist countries, and 59.2% of exports to nonsocialist countries. Naturally, exports of crude oil and refined oil products were dominant exports in the fuel category, accounting for 41.6% of total exports, 35.6% of exports to socialist countries, and 49.0% of exports to nonsocialist countries. The second most important export item in 1983 was arms, which represented a 13.4% share in total exports to all countries, 8.4% of exports to socialist countries, and 19.6% of exports to nonsocialist countries. (Actually, at least in the case of socialist countries, the share of gas exports in total exports amounted to 10.3%, a somewhat higher figure than the share of arms exports.)
