ABBA music for Soviet oil? World’s weirdest trade deals

Strange trade-offs

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Pepsi for tomato paste, sticky rice for aircraft and mackerel for puffins are just some of the weirdest modern examples of barter, a system you may think had died out centuries ago. The reality is barter has remained surprisingly popular for all sorts of reasons, from a way of getting around trade and currency embargoes to a means for countries and organisations lacking hard cash to acquire goods and services. Looking back over recent history, read on as we reveal some of the most peculiar countertrade deals ever. All dollar values in US dollars.

Canned ham for aircraft

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In the late 1960s US aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas received substantial amounts of canned ham as part of a DC-9 deal it closed with Yugoslavia's official airline JAT. However, the meat products were impossible to shift and the company resorted to giving the cans away to staff.

Cocoa beans for oil

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A scarcity of cash prompted newly-independent Ghana to sign a sweet barter deal with the Soviet Union in 1960. At the time the West African country was the world's number one producer of cocoa beans, which it arranged to supply in great quantities to the USSR in exchange for copious amounts of crude oil.

Pepsi for Stolichnaya vodka

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In 1974 Pepsi became the first Western brand to be produced in the Soviet Union thanks to a groundbreaking barter deal, which involved swapping concentrate of the cola for Stolichnaya vodka. The Russian currency, the rouble, was subject to an embargo, so companies had to think creatively. In fact, PepsiCo was the sole Stoli distributor in the US until 2009 when the contract passed to William Grant & Sons.

Pepsi for tomato paste

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PepsiCo also traded concentrate of its sugary drink for Soviet tomato paste as part of the arrangement according to the BBC. Back in those days the food and drinks company owned Pizza Hut, and the puree was used on the chain's pizzas in Europe.

ABBA music for oil commodity rights

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During the late 1970s the management of ABBA shrewdly sidestepped restrictions surrounding the Russian rouble by setting up a plum deal with the Soviet Union. Instead of hard cash the Swedish pop group received royalties in the form of oil commodity rights, which proved to be very lucrative indeed.

Designer know-how for silk and cashmere

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In 1979 Pierre Cardin sewed up a landmark deal with the Chinese government. In exchange for the French designer's expert advice, China agreed to sell his company's wares in China and pay royalties in high-quality silk and cashmere.

Computer for art reproduction rights

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Also in 1979 US computer manufacturer Control Data provided the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) with a $3 million machine. In lieu of a cash payment the tech company was loaned several of the institution's masterpieces and granted exclusive rights to market reproductions of its artworks.

Lamb for oil

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New Zealand's Department of Trade and Industry turned to good old-fashioned bartering in 1982 when it clinched a $150 million deal with Iran to supply the Middle Eastern country with lamb, which was exchanged for oil. That's the equivalent of a $400 million (£303m) deal in today's money.

Dairy products for bauxite

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Between 1982 and 1984 the USA swapped thousands of tonnes of surplus dairy products as well as other foodstuffs for large quantities of Jamaican bauxite. The rock, which has a high aluminium content, was added to America's National Defense Stockpile.

Lada cars for bauxite

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Not ones to miss a trick when it came to countertrading, the Soviets got in the act yet again during the early 1980s by concluding a deal with Jamaica to acquire bauxite ore in exchange for Lada cars, which were a relatively common sight in the Caribbean country back in the day.

Oil for sugar and Volkswagen assembly kits

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A nation that is big on bartering, Nigeria offloaded a hefty $500 million-worth of oil to Brazil in 1985, the equivalent of $1.2 billion (£910m) in today's money. In return, the South American country sent over 250,000 tonnes of sugar and 500,000 Volkswagen assembly kits.

Lamb for heavy industrial equipment

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Also in 1985 the New Zealand Meat Board embraced countertrading in a major way by signing a deal with Poland, which at this time was under communist control, to barter lamb for heavy industrial equipment.

Tobacco for PCs

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Zimbabwe has long been one of the world's leading tobacco producers and is among the most countertrade-friendly countries on the planet. In 1987 the African nation traded the cash crop for Bulgarian Isotimpex computers.

Tobacco for combine harvesters

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That same year Zimbabwe entered into a bartering arrangement with East Germany, which exported combine harvesters to the African country in exchange for large quantities of tobacco leaves.

Asbestos for three-wheel scooters

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Staying in 1987 Zimbabwe swapped asbestos for Indian three-wheel scooters, as well as other items including paper, photocopiers, sewing machines and TV sets. While the cancer-causing substance was banned in India in 2011, it continues to be imported and used in insulation, roofing materials and brake linings.

Scrap iron for trains

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The government of Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, put its ample reserves of scrap iron to excellent use in 1989 by swapping a sizeable batch of the spent metal for 12 Italian-manufactured locomotives, which ended up running on the country's state-owned railway.

Pepsi for Soviet warships and tankers

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Seasoned barterer PepsiCo went all out in 1990 when it finalised a $3 billion deal with the USSR to swap Pepsi concentrate for vodka and, believe it or not, 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate and a destroyer, as well as tankers and freighters, which it planned to lease and sell overseas. The so-called deal of the century was the biggest a US company ever signed with the Soviets.

Frozen fish for freezers

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Presumably short of equipment to freeze its catches, Tunisian fishing company CNP hooked up with the Algerian state-owned refrigeration firm Enafroid in 1991 to barter frozen fish for freezing technology.

Frankincense for tea

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As a condition of a countertrade deal arranged in 1991, Sudan agreed to supply China with aromatic frankincense, which according to the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus was one of the three gifts presented by the Magi to the Christ child, in exchange for a variety of commodities including tea.

Palm oil for fighter jets

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The Malaysian government came up with a novel way to help pay for 18 Russian MiG-29 fighter jets back in 1994. The cash-strapped southeast Asian country brokered a deal with Russia worth $550 million (the equivalent of $955m/£724m today), settling almost 20% of the bill with refined palm oil.

Insect traps for Apache helicopters

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In 1995 US aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas agreed to install a sophisticated system of insect traps in order to close a $250 million deal with the UAE for Apache helicopters. That would be worth $422 million (£320m) in today's money. At the time the emirate was plagued with a white fly infestation that was wiping out its vegetable crops.

Sticky rice for cargo planes

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A super-popular foodstuff throughout southeast Asia, sticky rice from Thailand took the place of hard currency in a major aircraft deal back in 1996 when Indonesian aviation company Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) traded two of its cargo planes for 110,000 tonnes of the glutinous grain.

Natural gas for free passage

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In 1998 Bulgaria permitted trade destined for Russia to pass through its territory from countries including Greece, Macedonia and Turkey. In exchange, the country started receiving free natural gas from Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom.

Oil for doctors

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In 1999 Venezuela's extreme left-wing president Hugo Chávez signed a deal with the leader of communist Cuba, Fidel Castro, to supply the Caribbean island nation with 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day in exchange for 20,000 Cuban doctors and other professionals, who decamped to work in the South American country.

Condoms for arms

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As part of an expansive deal to furnish South Africa with arms, German steelmaker Ferrostaal invested in an Eastern Cape condom plant in 2001 and organised the export from Germany of 100 million unfinished condoms.

Frozen chicken for fighter jets

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The Thai government worked out a deal with Lockheed Martin in 2005 to swap thousands of tonnes of chicken for a number of F16 fighter jets. Commenting on the exchange, the then-Thai defence minister Thammarak Isarangura quipped: “They both have wings and they can both fly”. Unfortunately a coup in Thailand the following year scuppered the arrangement.

Copper and cobalt for railways and hospitals

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In 2008 the Democratic Republic of the Congo teamed up with the China Railway Engineering Corporation to wrap up a mega countertrade deal worth $9 billion, the equivalent of $10.7 billion (£8.1bn) today. In exchange for colossal quantities of cobalt and copper, the Chinese state-owned company agreed to construct miles of railways and roads, scores of hospitals, and more.

Palm oil and coffee for fighter jets

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Mirroring somewhat the deal struck between Malaysia and Russia in 1994, the government of Indonesia announced in 2017 that it would exchange palm oil, coffee and other commodities for 11 Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets. Such an arrangement has been seen as a way to get around the trade sanctions imposed by the US against Russia, Iran, Venezuela and other countries who work with them.

800 mackerel for 12 puffins

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Zoos in the US are prohibited from buying or selling endangered animals without a hard-to-obtain permit. A loophole in the law, however, effectively allows them to exchange protected species without a permit, which has led to some bizarre deals. The New England Aquarium, for instance, once swapped 800 mackerel for a dozen puffins.

Oil for basmati rice

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Severely restricted due to US sanctions, Iran recently resurrected a deal it had with India way back when to exchange oil for basmati rice. Iran is actually the biggest export market for the high-quality fragrant grain.

Now find out about the countries the US trades most with