Russian exports to Europe dropped by more than two-thirds last year, as the EU drastically cut its purchases of Russian oil and gas, Russia’s customs agency said yesterday.
EU countries have halted the vast majority of their energy purchases from Russia in a bid to heap economic pressure on Moscow over its military offensive against Ukraine.
Russian exports to Europe dropped 68 percent last year to US$84.9 billion, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s federal customs agency as saying.
Photo: AP
Exports to Asia — which has replaced Europe as the country’s main energy client — were up 5.6 percent to US$306.6 billion, the agency said.
After it was hit with Western sanctions, Moscow stopped publishing a vast array of economic statistics, including trade data with individual countries.
Separate Chinese customs data showed two-way trade between the two countries hit a record US$240 billion last year, amid growing economic, trading and political ties between Beijing and Moscow.
Russia’s Central Bank also said last week that holdings of Chinese yuan in Russian bank accounts exceeded US dollars for the first time ever, as Russia’s financial system embraces the Chinese currency in the face of sanctions on its access to the US dollar.
Russia’s overall trade surplus came in at US$140 billion last year — down 58.5 percent from the previous year, which saw Moscow earn bumper energy revenues as its offensive on Ukraine sent oil and gas prices surging and Europe carried on buying Russian energy for much of the year.
Energy exports are a critical source of revenue for Russia’s budget, bringing in billions of dollars every month.
Russian imports from Europe were also down last year, falling 12.3 percent to US$78.5 billion, while the value of goods bought from Asia continued to climb, jumping 29.2 percent to US$187.5 billion, Interfax reported.
The Russian ruble steadied near 91 to the US dollar yesterday, held up by relatively high oil prices, as exporters start converting foreign currency revenues in preparation for month-end tax payments.
At 8:05am GMT, the ruble was 0.19 percent weaker against the US dollar at 91.07 and had lost 0.3 percent to trade at 98.31 versus the euro. It firmed 0.27 percent against the yuan to 12.53.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS