Russian exporters in the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

We report results of the analysis of the survey data collected from Russian non-raw material exporters in 2020. Survey data allows defining the main channels through which pandemic crisis affected firms' performance and identifying measures the firms applied to adjust to the new shocks. About three quarters of the surveyed exporters reported negative effects of the crisis on their operations. At the same time, firms' international exposure on input side did not increase the degree of companies' vulnerability to the crisis: supply delays were equally likely to occur on the part of domestic and foreign partners. However, there was a statistically significant difference on output side: exporting companies faced growth opportunities in domestic market more often than in foreign destinations, while significant losses happened more often in the foreign markets. These results allow us to conclude that the international exposure of exporting companies in special circumstances of economic crisis, caused by COVID-19 pandemic, created additional risks on the sales side, but not on the input side. This is consistent with the increase in foreign market access costs due to the ban on international travels.