In July, the value of trade between Russia and Japan dropped by 32.47 percent from the previous year, totaling 70.7 billion yen, roughly 487 million U.S. dollars. This figure comes from data published by Japan’s Ministry of Finance via TASS.
The dominant portion of Russian exports to Japan continues to be energy resources, composing about seven-tenths of the overall shipments. Yet last month Japan markedly reduced its imports of liquefied natural gas by 63.9 percent and coal by 80.2 percent from Russia. Notably, Japan did not import oil from Russia in July.
During the same period, purchases of fish and seafood from Russia to Japan rose by 18.8 percent, while grain deliveries declined by 12.3 percent.
On the Russian side, July saw an uptick in orders for spare parts from Japan, rising by 13 percent. Conversely, cars imported into Russia fell by 34.3 percent, and Russian demand for plastic products from Japan dropped by 34.9 percent.
Earlier, payments delays caused some Russian firms to have funds held abroad. Looking at the first seven months of the year, the financial assets of Russian enterprises held abroad increased by almost 45 billion dollars, nearly doubling the level seen in the same period of 2023.
There was also clearer evidence of a broader effort to recalibrate imports into the Russian Federation, reflecting shifts in both bilateral demand and global market dynamics.