Sanctions take UK imports from Russia to record lows

UK sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine have led to a slump in imports to record lows, official figures showed on Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said imports fell to £33 million ($39 million) in June — the lowest level since records began in 1997.

Notably, there were no imports of fuels from Russia in June for the first time ever.

“This is a decrease of £499 million (100 percent) compared with the monthly average for the 12 months to February 2022,” the ONS added in a statement.

Before the Ukraine conflict, Russia was the UK’s largest supplier of refined oil in 2021, accounting for 24.1 percent of all imports of the commodity.

It also supplied 5.9 percent of the country’s crude oil imports and 4.9 percent of gas imports.

“As a result of the UK government’s ambition to phase out imports of Russian oil and gas, there were no imports of refined oil, crude oil, gas or coal, coke and briquettes from Russia by June 2022.

“This has prompted importers to seek alternatives,” it added.

Increases in imports of refined oil from Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Kuwait have been seen in recent months to compensate, the ONS said.

As well as the phase-out of oil imports by the end of this year, the government in London has targeted sanctions of imports of a range of goods from Russia.

Bans are in place on all iron and steel products, silver, gold, wood products and high-end goods while some goods have been slapped with an additional 35-percent import tariff.

As a result, imports of all commodities decreased compared with the monthly average before the invasion.

Exports increased slightly in June but dropped nearly 70 percent (£168 million) compared with the monthly average for the 12 months to February.

Chemicals were the only commodity exported to Russia that increased in June, driven by medicinal and pharmaceutical products, which are not subject to sanctions.

“The economic sanctions applied by the UK government are likely to have driven the decreases in imports from and exports to Russia,” the ONS noted.

“However self-sanctioning, whereby traders voluntarily seek alternatives to Russian goods, is also a likely factor.”