The other battle of the invasion of the war in Ukraine is being fought these days in China. “Se refuses to condemn Russian aggression, echoes Russian propaganda and props up the Russian economy. China and Russia are also intensifying their joint military activities in the Indo-Pacific region,” the NATO secretary general reproached after a meeting with senior officials from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Although for now there is no official confirmation that it has occurred, Jens Stoltenberg warned Beijing with “very severe consequences if it delivers lethal aid to Russia”, a mystery in the air after the recent meeting between the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingand the Russian Vladimir Putin, to stage what they themselves defined as a “limitless” relationship. The expression, as qualified by the Chinese ambassador to the EU, Fu Congin an interview for The New York Times, “is nothing more than rhetoric.” “She has deliberately misunderstood herself,” she lamented. It has been 406 days of conflict and 61 since the community veto on Russian diesel purchases came into force in another attempt to suffocate the country’s accounts, the same objective as the previous restrictions imposed on coal and oil. Until the entry into force of the new measure, Moscow’s bill to the EU for coal, gas and crude since the outbreak of the war reached 140,000 million eurosaccording to the Center for Research in Energy and Clean Air (CREA), 41% more than in 2021. Fuel purchases by Galician companies from Russia doubled at that time, causing a historical record of imports from there.
The import balance of Galicia with Russia amounted to 539.6 million euros between February 2022 and January of this year, as stated in the reports of the Secretary of State for Trade. Compared to the previous twelve months, the amount increased above 78%. Fuels are the main item: 445.6 million euros after an increase of 118.6%, highly conditioned by the intense rise in prices. In petroleum oils, 55.6 million euros were recorded with operations registered in February, March and July of last year. The rest of the acquisitions is gas (390.1 million euros) during the months of July, September and October 2022 and in January of the current 2023.
“Since the start of the conflict, the supply of gas to Europe from Russia has been reduced from 40% to 7%, mainly due to what happened in the Nordstream gas pipeline, the reduction in flows through Ukraine and Belarus and the prohibition of certain countries to import gas of this origin”, details Enagás, the technical manager of the Spanish gas system, in its recent balance sheet of operations. Of the 446,550 gigawatt hours (GWh) of total supplies to the country, the US contributed almost 130,000, followed by Algeria (106,400), Nigeria (61,731) and Russia in fourth place (53,859). By sea, 338 discharges were made in the six regasification plants in the country. 25 methane tankers arrived at the Galician one in Mugardos and the majority, 15, came from Russia.
The outbreak of the conflict made the entire primary sector of the community tremble for affect two of the world’s largest suppliers of basic raw materials for their activity. Like fertilizers, which in purchases from Russia rose by about 4%, to 41.1 million euros. Fish imports touched 19 million euros after an advance of 57%; those of foundry, iron and steel increased by 7.9% (13.8 million); and waste from the food industry shot up 189% (10.4%). Machines and mechanical devices did decrease (4.1% less); and imports of aluminum and wood fell by more than 75%.
The sales of made in Galicia in Russia they remained more stable. They rose 5.4% with a balance of 133 million in the first twelve months of the war. Insecticides and rodenticides lead the flow of trade with the country after a rise of 237%: 101.5 million euros. Subscription traffic also grew inversely, although at much lower levels. The amount is around 2 million, 86% more; and exports of albuminoids and glues reached 1.4 million after an increase of 195%. The automotive and textile items are ridiculous –1.9 and 1.4 million euros, respectively– after a resounding drop of 83% in cars and 94% in clothing. Furniture exports, which came to caress 9 million euros in the previous twelve months, remained at only 454,000 euros.