Serbia’s trade deficit shrank by 44.7% y/y to US$ 4.57bn in the first eight months of 2009, as the recession in the European Union damped demand for goods from the Balkan region. The decrease in the value of exports is also due to lower prices of primary products at the world market, while the drop in imports reflects decreasing industrial output and consumption in Serbia. Serbia's key foreign trade partners in exports were BiH (US$ 443.7m), Germany (US$ 421.6m), and Montenegro (US$ 379.6m). At the same time, the country imported mostly from Russia (US$ 943.3m), Germany (US$ 892.3m) and Italy (US$ 713.8m).