UK Sanctions Undermine Exports Of Belarusian Petroleum Products

London served as a European hub for our petrochemical complex.

The UK is one of the biggest economies in Europe, which is why Brexit was such a tough test for many of the UK's EU partner countries. However, this economy is also an important foreign economic partner for Belarus. Previously, exports to the UK accounted for up to 9% of all deliveries of Belarusian goods to foreign markets, writes the Nashy Hroshy telegram channel.

Indicators of Belarus' foreign trade in goods with the United Kingdom have several features. Firstly, there is a significant surplus of exports over imports. For example, in 2018, while exporting $3.1 billion worth of goods to the UK, imports were only $314 million, i.e. almost ten times lower.

Secondly, the bulk of Belarusian exports to the UK was petroleum products. Shipments of mineral products accounted for 97% of total exports. This does not mean that the UK consumed significant volumes of Belarusian oil products. In fact, London served as a European hub for our petrochemical complex. This, in turn, explains why the imposition of sanctions by the UK was a rather painful blow to Belarus' exports as a whole, which is clearly visible given the drop in 2020-2021. Moreover, the painfulness of these restrictive measures is indirectly evidenced by the fact that the data on exports of mineral products for 2021 are hidden from the official statistics.

In an interview with Charter97.org, economist Leu Marholin noted that sanctions hit the most important items of the Belarusian export:

- This includes potash, oil industry, woodworking, rubber, metal and so on. So the problem exists. It will only worsen, because the sanctions have only recently come into force in full. Before that, there was a so-called transition period, when it was possible to fulfill existing contracts.