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In 2007, the total trade turnover through Russia’s Far Eastern Customs amounted to a total of $26.3 billion indicating a 62 percent growth as compared to 2006, a press statement from the Far Eastern Customs Department reported on Thursday.

Overall, the Far Eastern Customs, which has 16 offices performing customs registrations in the Russian Far East’s nine regions, showed larger volumes of goods exported and imported as compared to last year.

Exports accounted for 89 percent of last year’s turnover, which in volume totaled 51.3 million tons. In comparison to 2006, last year’s exports through the Far Eastern Customs doubled and were worth $15.8 billion, with 45.6 million tons of goods exported.

Among the Russian Far East’s major foreign trading partners last year were South Korea, which took in 32 percent of the region’s exports, Japan which received 30 percent of Far East’s exports, and China, with 17 percent of the goods imported from the Far East. Some 6 percent of the goods were exported to Singapore, the statement said.

Oil and its products comprised the majority of the 2007 exports, with crude oil amounting to 47 percent of the exports’ cost and oil products accounting for 25 percent, the statement reported. The oil exports have increased by 3.6 times showing a 4.3 times growth in its cost as compared to 2006.

Timber (12 percent of the overall exports volume), ferrous metals (3 percent) and fish and sea products (2 percent) were among the other exports.

The 2007 imports, which totaled $10.5 billion dollars, also indicated a considerable growth, the statement stressed. As compared to 2006, the volume of goods imported increased by 25 percent, with Vladivostok and Nakhodka’s customs offices receiving most of the Far Eastern imports - 32 percent and 24 percent of all the imports value. The offices in Sakhalin and Primorye’s town of Ussurisk received 18 and 7 percent of the imports respectively.

China and Japan exported the largest amount of commodities to the Russian Far East last year, comprising 37 and 26 percent of the region’s overall imports respectively. Among other major exporters are S. Korea and the USA, whose products accounted for 18 and 5 percent of the Russian Far East’s imports.

Machinery and equipment amounted to 27 percent of the imports to the region, while vehicles were 21 percent. Other imported goods were plastic ware and ferrous metal goods which accounted for 7 percent of the total. The remaining goods are electronic equipment and house appliances, footwear and meat which comprised 6 percent, 6 percent and 3 percent of the total imports, respectively.

According to the statement, 131.2 billion rubles ($5.3 billion) were transferred to the federal budget by the Far Eastern Customs offices in 2007, an increase of 28.5 billion rubles over 2006. The customs offices in the ports of Vladivostok and Nakhodka transferred the most money to the federal budget (35 percent and 30 percent respectively).

However, despite major positive figures, the 2007 statistics also revealed negative results. According to the statement, last year, a total of 345 criminal cases were launched by Far East customs offices, 15 percent more than in 2006.

The cost of the smuggled goods seized at the offices amounted to 1.6 billion rubles ($65.04 million), the statement reported.

Meanwhile, Primorye’s regional court on Thursday denied the Prosecutor’s Office appeal and ruled to keep Ernest Bakhshetsyan, the former head of the Far Eastern Customs who is charged with abuse of power, released on bail, news reports said.

Bakhshetsyan was detained and arrested in early May 2006 by decision of Vladivostok’s Frunzensky court. The investigation revealed that from June to September 2005 Bakhshetsyan and his first aide Alexander Vorobyov illegally gave permission to three companies to import goods through the customs in Primorye’s city of Nakhodka with minimal control and no inspection. The two officials’ actions allowed 1.2 billion rubles ($48.8 million) worth of smuggled goods to enter Russia from China.

Bakhshetsyan was released on one million ruble ($40,650) bail by Frunzensky court in late December, but the Prosecutor’s office had filed an appeal demanding that the official be taken into custody due to the threat of him pressuring witnesses or fleeing before the trial.