The move would lead to extra costs of at least €860 million for Estonian companies
Estonian businesses that depend on goods and raw materials imported from Russia and Belarus would be expected to face extra costs of €860 million, according to the Foresight Centre, an independent think tank at Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament.
Replacing goods supplied from Russia and Belarus is complicated by the lack of surplus in Estonia’s domestic market, the think tank said in its latest report devoted to the issue.
“In certain categories, the goods from other countries are dramatically more expensive, although they can sometimes be also slightly more affordable,” said Foresight Centre expert Uku Varblane.
“However, this does not mean that production inputs from Russia and Belarus can always be easily replaced because they might have specific features that Estonian businesses have designed their products around,” the analyst added.
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Energy majors call on the French to save fuel
According to the brief report, replacing imports of fuels, wood products, metals and metal products, as well as salt and linen fabrics, would lead to the heaviest extra costs.
“For example, three quarters of the iron wire imported into Estonia comes from Russia or Belarus and finding replacements would mean an 81% increase in the cost,” Varblane warned.
The key imports from Russia and Belarus are fuels and natural resources (60%), wood and wooden produce (13.8%), metal products (9.2%), and chemical industry products (7.2%), according to the report.
The report highlights that last year Russia was Estonia’s second biggest trading partner after Finland, while Belarus was ranked tenth.
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Industry CEOs say France is at major risk of shortages and soaring prices
The chief executives of French energy companies TotalEnergies, EDF, and Engie have urged the country’s households and businesses to immediately lower consumption of fuel, oil, electricity and gas to be better prepared for the winter season.
“We must collectively take action on energy demand by reducing our consumption to recoup margins of maneuver,” a joint opinion piece issued by Jean-Bernard Levy, Catherine MacGregor and Patrick Pouyanne on Sunday reads.
According to the statement, published by Le Journal du Dimanche, potential price explosions threaten the “social cohesion” of the nation and have a dramatic impact upon consumer purchasing power.
“We will need them to manage the coming consumption peaks and to smooth out technical events or geopolitical shocks that we may have to face,” it said.
The bosses of the country’s largest energy groups highlighted that acting already this summer will make France better prepared ahead of winter. They believe that an immediate collective effort to boost energy efficiency would increase the purchasing power of households and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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France no longer receiving Russian pipeline gas
The call comes as France, like the rest of Europe, is trying to boost its gas reserves for next winter and, despite the drop in Russian gas deliveries, is targeting 100% storage levels by early autumn.
Earlier this month, French gas transmission system operator GRTgaz reported that it was no longer receiving Russian pipeline gas from Germany. The deliveries were substantially curtailed due to technical issues arising from Western sanctions. Russian energy giant Gazprom said that German energy equipment operator Siemens Energy had failed to return repaired gas pumping units for the North Stream pipeline from a maintenance facility in Canada due to the country’s sanctions on Russia.
Moreover, the company said that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would stop delivering gas to Germany for 10 days in mid-July due to scheduled annual maintenance. The work will take place from July 11 to July 21.
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London says a ban on new Russian gold imports will be announced at the G7 summit
Britain and the US, along with allies such as Japan and Canada, are set to reveal a ban on new imports of Russian gold during the G7 Leaders’ Summit on Sunday, according to a statement by the UK government.
“This measure will have global reach, shutting the commodity out of formal international markets” and delivering a “huge impact” on Moscow’s potential to generate revenue across the world, the statement reads, adding that the step is underpinned by London’s central role in the metals trade.
Shipments between Russia and Britain have been reduced to almost zero since the Western allies introduced unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over its military operation in neighboring Ukraine. The London Bullion Market Association, which sets the standards for the market, removed Russian gold refiners from its accredited list in March.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported that EU leaders are considering gold as one of the targets for the next round of sanctions on Russia. The agency’s source, however, did not clarify whether the move would hit exports of gold, imports, or both.
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‘Impossible’ to sanction Russian gold, financier tells RT
The measure announced by London will apply to gold leaving Russia for the first time, and the US Treasury is expected to issue a ban on Tuesday, a person familiar with the plan said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
In April, Washington barred American individuals from engaging in gold-related transactions with Russia’s Central Bank, National Wealth Fund, and Finance Ministry.
While Western sanctions have largely closed off European and US markets to gold from the world’s second-biggest bullion miner, the G7’s move is expected to completely sever Russia from the world’s top two trading centers, London and New York.
According to UN Comtrade data, as cited by the agency, the $15 billion in Russian gold that arrived in London last year made up 28% of UK gold imports. Russia still has the option to sell the precious metal directly to refineries, or look for new buyers, such as China, India, and the Middle East, which have not supported the sanctions and are not part of the G7.
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The global lender says the US may have to suffer a recession in order to tame rising prices
The United States may have to endure economic “pain” in order to rein in rampant inflation, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday, noting that a downturn might be the “necessary price to pay” for recovery.
Speaking to reporters during a Friday press conference, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva predicted a rough ride for the US economy, which is experiencing decades-high inflation with soaring prices for a number of staple goods.
“Success over time [in lowering prices] will be beneficial for global growth, but some pain to get to that success can be a necessary price to pay,” she said, soon after the IMF slashed its growth forecast for the US by nearly a full percentage point, down to 2.9%.
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US makes confession about skyrocketing food and energy prices
Georgieva added that the United States faces a “narrowing path to avoiding a recession,” but that tackling inflation must be the “top priority,” even if it means an economic slow-down.
Nigel Chalk, the number two official at the IMF’s Western Hemisphere branch, also warned of the risk of a recession, but predicted that any downturn would be short-lived, pointing to robust savings and labor markets in the country.
The comments from the international lender come after the US Federal Reserve pushed through the highest interest rate hike in 28 years last week, in what Fed chair Jerome Powell described as an effort to counteract inflation. He has since acknowledged, however, that the central bank does not have control over prices for many key goods, including food and gas, explaining “There’s really not anything that we can do” about rising oil and grain costs.
