【Yahoo News Report】Russia invaded Ukraine for a year and was subject to economic sanctions from many countries. “Yahoo News” statistics found that last year, the price of imported Russian coal in Hong Kong did not fall but rose, and the value of the goods increased by 90% year-on-year, reaching as high as 1.18 billion yuan; Hong Kong’s telecommunications equipment exported to Russia quickly returned to the pre-war level. This is related to the rising demand for parallel imports of telecommunications equipment in Russia. Since the start of the war, a total of 40 newly registered companies have “Russia” or “Russia” in their names, nearly double the number compared to the same period last year.
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After Russia launched the war, it was sanctioned by many countries, and the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and the European Union imposed an embargo on Russian coal. According to the trade and cargo statistics of the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, the value of Russian coal imported by Hong Kong last year was about 1.18 billion yuan, a substantial increase of 90% from the previous year’s 610 million yuan.
Russian coal is 40% more expensive than Indonesia
Last year, Hong Kong imported coal from various countries, among which Indonesia accounted for the highest proportion, about 5.2 million tons of coal worth 9.6 billion yuan, or 1846 yuan per ton; Russian coal ranked second, although the import volume fell by 30% year-on-year to about 45 10,000 tons, but the value of the goods is as high as 1.18 billion yuan, that is, the price per ton is 2622 yuan, which is 40% more expensive than Indonesian coal. Australia ranks third in coal imports, with about 150,000 tons of coal worth 330 million yuan, and the price per ton is about 2,122 yuan.
HK Electric reiterated to Yahoo News that 20% of the company’s coal supply came from Russia last year and the rest from Indonesia. This batch of Russian coal was a fixed-term contract signed by the company in the early years, and no Russian coal was purchased after the contract was completed. CLP reiterated that the company purchased coal from places such as Indonesia and the United States, and did not purchase fuel from Russia last year.
A person familiar with the power generation industry pointed out that coal prices are affected by many factors, including coal quality and transportation costs. Early last year, Indonesia once announced a ban on coal exports, disrupting the coal supply market. In order to ensure the security of energy supply, it generally does not rely solely on coal from a single country. Under the current political struggle among various countries, Hong Kong’s future procurement of power generation energy is bound to consider more geopolitical factors.
Hong Kong has been importing “petroleum and oil extracted from bituminous minerals (except crude oil)” from China, Taiwan, Singapore and other places. After the war broke out last year, Hong Kong increased its imports of “Russian oil” products. In the past, the annual imports were only less than 2 million yuan, but last year it suddenly increased to about 120 million yuan, a 60-fold increase from the previous year. 99% of the relevant volumes were imported in March last year, that is, one month after the Russia-Ukraine war started, and there has been no record of importing “Russian oil” since April.
According to the “Hong Kong External Merchandise Trade” report by the Census and Statistics Department, the value of Russian products imported into Hong Kong last year increased rather than decreased under the war, from 10.2 billion in 2021 to 10.9 billion last year. The commodity category with the largest increase was “mineral fuels, lubricants and related substances”, which increased from 600 million yuan to 1.3 billion yuan.
In contrast, the value of Hong Kong’s imports of Ukrainian products plummeted. From 870 million yuan in 2021 to about 150 million yuan last year, categories such as “machinery and transportation equipment” and “food and live animals” recorded the largest declines.
The import of telecommunications equipment increased by 5 times in a single month Industry: Russia has a large demand for parallel imports
In terms of exports, Hong Kong will export 38.7 billion yuan of products to Russia in 2021, the highest in the past 10 years, mainly “machinery and transportation equipment”. When the war broke out last year, the export value plummeted to 18.7 billion yuan. However, the export volume of “machinery and transportation equipment” has returned to the pre-war level in October last year, with an average monthly value of more than 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, with telecommunications equipment accounting for the largest proportion. In October last year, Hong Kong exported 2.8 billion yuan of “machinery and transportation equipment”, and “telecommunication and sound recording and replaying apparatus and equipment” accounted for more than 1.2 billion yuan, a five-fold increase from the previous month.
Fang Baoqiao, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Chamber of Commerce, analyzed that Russia has been sanctioned and embargoed by many countries. Not only Hong Kong, but the biggest transit country is Dubai.” According to his understanding, Russia has a large demand for consumer electronics, such as refrigerators, air conditioners, hair dryers, televisions and computers, and the Hong Kong industry has also received Similar query, “Re-export is something that we usually don’t see, but it happens often, especially parallel imports.”
Russian name registration company doubles
The Russo-Ukraine War indirectly affected Hong Kong’s foreign import and export trade, and also increased the number of registered companies in Hong Kong with Russian names. “Yahoo News” found that from the outbreak of the war on February 24 last year until the end of last year, there were 40 newly registered companies in Hong Kong with “Russia” or “Russia” in their names, nearly double the number of 21 in the same period last year. At the same time, three other companies applied to change their names, and the new names no longer contain the word “Russia”.
Indigenous research institutes have found similar findings in earlier similar studies. The group pointed out that these companies may not necessarily be from Russia, but may also be investing in Russia in the nature of their business, or even shell companies that have nothing to do with Russia. However, the relevant figures reflect to a certain extent that the economic ties between Hong Kong and Russia have become closer.
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