Deliveries of goods from the United States to Russia hit a new record low

Deliveries of goods from the United Statesin April 2022, a record low of $89 million was updated in RUSSIA. Shipments of cars, boats, and agricultural vehicles almost zeroed.RBC studied the latest trade statistics of the US and Russia

After US exports of goods to Russia fell nearly fivefold in March 2022 compared to February, the latest US statistics for April showed a further collapse in US-Russian trade. Imports of goods from the United States to Russia in value terms amounted to $89.1 million compared to $101.1 million in March, which is a new minimum in a month since at least 2002. Since that time, there are monthly data from the US Census Bureau (Census Bureau), until 2002 - only annual (but since the early 1990s, the monthly average has consistently exceeded the figure for last April).

The Federal Customs Service (FCS) has suspended the publication of monthly data on Russia's foreign trade, data for February and subsequent months have not been published. Statistics of Russia's trading partner countries has become the only way to assess the trends of Russian exports and imports. US foreign trade data is released with a lag of more than 30 days. “It is probably not worth expecting that sanctions will be quickly lifted and we will be able to publish data in the same volume as before. But with aggregated data, I think we will slowly figure it out and start publishing again, ”said Ruslan Davydov, First Deputy HEAD of the Federal Customs Service, in an interview with RBC at the end of May.

Deputy head of the FCS - RBC: "Russia has reached a plateau in foreign trade" Economics

At the same time, deliveries of Russian goods to the United States in April, although they decreased by 24% compared to March, remained at a relatively high level of $2.08 billion. For comparison, in 2021, the United States imported an average of $2.47 billion worth of Russian goods per month. In April, before the entry into force of the US embargo on the import of oil and petroleum products from Russia (April 22), American business, including refineries, actively purchased Russian mineral fuel - $1.3 billion against $1.7 billion in March. Since May, these volumes in the US statistics should practically be zeroed. In early June, a similar embargo on the purchase of marine consignments of Russian oil and oil products was introduced by the European Union (it is assumed that starting from 2023, the import of fuel from Russia to the EU will be reduced by €64 billion, or 90%).

In April, the price of spot shipments of North Sea Brent oil averaged $104.6 per barrel, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But Russian Urals averaged $70.5 per barrel, as it was sold at deep discounts to Brent due to sanctions risks. In May, this discount slightly decreased from 33% to 30%.

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Why supplies from the usa to Russia have decreased

In the structure of American exports to Russia in April, almost complete zeroing was recorded in a number of industrial and transport categories:

ship and boat deliveries were nil, after $1.1 million in the previous month and $1.6 million in February; EXPORT of passenger cars - $0.1 million (after $3.3 million in March and $27.1 million in February); piston internal combustion engines — zero (after $0.2 million in March and $6.9 million in February); agricultural machinery — $0.08 million (after $1.5 million in March and $9.2 million in February); tunnel boring machines, drilling rigs, pile driving equipment – ​​nil (after $1.2 million in March and $9.3 million in February).

In general, deliveries of American machinery and equipment (groups 84 and 85 of the commodity nomenclature of foreign economic activity) to Russia in April amounted to just over $29 million (a month earlier - about $25 million). For comparison: in February, which largely reflected pre-crisis trade flows, these shipments amounted to almost $130 million. In April, shipments of American pharmaceuticals also grew slightly - to $17.6 million compared to $13.6 million in March (in February it was about $60 million). Medicines are generally withdrawn by the US authorities from sanctions against Russia.

At the end of 2021, the United States ranked fifth in the list of Russia's largest trading partners (in terms of total trade turnover). By the end of 2022, they are likely to roll back down (Belarus has already surpassed Germany in terms of exports to Russia according to April data).

Belarus for the first time surpassed Germany in terms of supplies to Russia Economics

Why did the import of goods from Russia decrease?

In US imports from Russia, most traditional items have also shrunk. Imports of Russian iron and steel and their products fell to $53.8 million in April from $258 million in March. The United States, unlike the European Union, did not impose a direct ban on the import of ferrous metals from Russia. However, in April , US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill revoking the most favored nation trade regime for Russia. As a result, tariffs on metal imports from Russia have risen significantly. But the price agency Fastmarkets wrote that even before the adoption of this law, American buyers distanced themselves from purchases of Russian metals. “I would not touch Russian metal, it may fall under sanctions on the way to the American market,” said a source among the buyers of the agency.

Imports of Russian nickel to the United States in April fell to $15 million compared to $45.6 million in March (nickel was also not subject to sanctions). Deliveries of Russian cartridges to the United States also fell to $6.7 million in April compared to $20.5 million in March and $21.9 million in February. As RBC wrote, in 2021, the purchase of cartridges by American shooters in Russia set a record on the eve of the full entry into force of the embargo on the import of Russian small arms and ammunition, announced back in August 2021.

New sanctions: what share of Russia's foreign trade was subject to restrictions Economics

The only category in which imports from Russia significantly increased were palladium and platinum: imports of these metals in April rose to $183.2 million from $122.9 million in March, according to US customs statistics. Imports of Russian seafood (mainly frozen crabs) remained almost unchanged ($88 million vs. $89 million in March). In March, the United States banned the import of seafood from Russia, but gave time until June 23 to continue purchases under existing contracts.

In general, among the US sanctions that directly affect exports to or imports from Russia are also bans on the supply of luxury goods, aircraft and a wide range of aviation products to Russia. In addition, the US Department of Commerce has adopted several successive rounds of restrictions on the export of dual-use goods and technologies to Russia.

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