Exports of Russian firearm ammunitions to U.S. reach record highs
Despite U.S. sanctions on the import of Russian small arms and ammunitions, their supplies from Russia to the United States broke the record set in the early 1990s, reports the Russian news agency RBC with reference to the data of the US Census Bureau.
During the first 10 months of 2021, American companies imported $ 157.9 million worth of Russian firearm cartridges, breaking the record of 2016 ($ 148 million per year).
According to the UN, more than 94% of all Russian firearm cartridges are supplied to the United States and only a small amount to the European Union ($ 2.7 million in 2020), Canada ($ 1.5 million), Thailand ($ 0.6 million).
Since the early 1990s, Russia has supplied the United States with about $1.7 billion worth of firearm ammunitions, and Russian firearm ammunition supplies represent about 22% of the country's total ammunitions imports and about 4 percent of the entire U.S. market for firearms.
The reason for such a demand for Russian cartridges is that they are cheaper than Americans.