UK imports of products from Russia have collapsed to a report low on account of financial sanctions over the war in Ukraine, in response to official knowledge.
Imports of products from Russia totalled £33mn in June, down 96 per cent yr on yr and the bottom since comparable knowledge was first printed in 1997, the Office for National Statistics stated on Wednesday.
For the primary time on report, there have been no imports of gasoline from Russia.
UK items exports to Russia additionally fell 67 per cent in contrast with the month-to-month common of the yr to February 2022.
The information come as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the choice to chop fuel provides in retaliation for sanctions exacerbate the cost of living crisis by driving up hovering family vitality and meals prices.
“The struggle in Ukraine has resulted in a collapse within the UK’s commerce flows with Russia,” stated Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, a consultancy.
She added that the struggle’s far greater impact on the British economic system was “by way of the worsening within the UK’s phrases of commerce brought on by the surge in vitality and meals costs, which has considerably eroded family and company incomes”.
Wednesday’s figures had been in stark distinction to the general UK pattern: items imports and exports rose by an annual price of about 35 per cent in June.
ONS knowledge confirmed that imports from different oil-producing international locations, akin to Norway and Qatar, soared in contrast with the month-to-month common of the yr to February 2022, compensating for the dearth of Russian vitality imports.
US items imports from Russia additionally collapsed by an annual price of 76 per cent in June, whereas EU imports from the nation had been up 43 per cent. This displays persevering with imports of Russian fuel, on which the bloc is closely dependent.
Exports to Russia from each the US and the EU fell sharply due to sanctions.
The ONS figures confirmed UK exports of most commodities to Russia had fallen considerably in June, with equipment and transport gear contracting 91 per cent, or £118mn, over the identical interval. UK exports of automobiles to Russia have ceased utterly.
One exception was UK exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical merchandise, that are unaffected by the sanctions for humanitarian causes. They jumped 62 per cent in June in contrast with the prewar interval.
Greater than 96 per cent of products imported from Russia are topic to restrictions, in addition to 60 per cent of products exported to the nation.
Items topic to export bans embody people who can be utilized for each civilian and army functions, and aviation and space-related gear. There’s additionally an export ban on equipment.
However the ONS stated it was “doubtless that some merchants are ‘self-sanctioning’”, which means that merchants are being cautious in coping with Russian teams.
Following this week’s rise within the benchmark European fuel worth to a report excessive of €292.50 per megawatt hour, asset supervisor PGIM Fastened Earnings on Wednesday revised down its forecast for the UK economic system to an annual 0.1 contraction for subsequent yr from a 0.8 per cent enlargement.
“The economic system’s momentum fell sharply in Q2, and the expensive pass-through of vitality costs to shoppers is anticipated to weigh closely on consumption,” stated Katharine Neiss, chief European economist at PGIM Fastened Earnings.
