(Finance and Economics) Russia-Ukraine War Continues Global Trade Suffering
China News Service, Beijing, March 15 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) The Russian-Ukrainian war is still going on, and global trade, which experienced a strong rebound last year, may face "drawing from the bottom."
The heating and cooling of global trade depends largely on the supply and demand sides.
Now, a slew of U.S. and European sanctions and logistical disruptions could curb Russia’s vast supplies of oil, gas, grain, metals and fertilizers, while the war has affected Ukrainian and Russian food exports such as wheat and sunflower seeds.
Against this backdrop, the prices of commodities such as food and energy have soared.
On March 1, in the business hall of a local bank in Moscow, customers were waiting for business.
In response to Russia's military action in Ukraine, the United States and the West have recently announced a series of sanctions against Russia, including the Russian financial system.
Russia, on the other hand, has introduced a series of countermeasures.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tian Bing
Analysts believe that with the sudden escalation of the situation in Ukraine, the long-term existence of geopolitical risks will drag down the EU's economic growth and thus impact global exports.
International logistics, which underpin the smooth flow of trade, have also suffered, adding to already fragile global supply chains.
In terms of shipping, many shipping companies have suspended freight services in Russia.
Maersk has suspended new bookings to and from Russia by sea, air and intercontinental rail, covering all Russian gateway ports.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping has also suspended all bookings for cargo shipments to and from Russia, including the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Russian Far East, accepting bookings only for essentials such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian items.
Hapag-Lloyd announced that it would stop accepting new export orders from Germany and the five Central European countries.
In terms of aviation, the mutual closure of airspace between the United States, Europe and Russia resulted in the interruption of some important routes and the cancellation of a large number of flights.
Industry insiders predict that about a quarter of conventional air cargo between Asia and Europe will be forced to divert to other modes of transport, resulting in further increases in logistics costs.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) President Georgieva said a few days ago that the collapse of global trade due to the war in Ukraine and the large-scale sanctions against Russia has promoted the sharp rise in food and energy prices, which will force the IMF to lower its global economic growth forecast.
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