THE Caribbean Community (Caricom) has left each member nation to decide what it will do about the possible imposition of sanctions on Russia after discussing the issue at the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government in Belize, as noted in a communique issued this week.

The decision followed sanctions from the European Union and the United States which have been increasing pressure on Russia over the last two weeks, since it launched an attack on Ukraine.

Jamaica exports aluminum oxide or alumina from Rusal-owned plants located in the island to various refineries and smelters abroad. The Jamaica Observer understands that while some goes to Russia, the majority is sent to North America.

It is not clear how exports from Rusal-owned plants in the island might be affected.

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin), in an update provided to the Business Observer on March 8, noted that between January to October 2021, exports to Russia were US$42.6 million, with additional re-exports of US$80,274. Imports from Russia to Jamaica amounted to US$3 million.

In 2021 major exports were alumina and coffee. The main imports from Russia were steel and Vodka.

Trade between Jamaica and Russia also includes other material and supplies, aside from alumina. The Jamaica Observer reached out to the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign trade for an update on Jamaica’s position. However, a response was not forthcoming up to press time.

Meanwhile, available data from the website en.russian-trade.com shows that in 2020, Russia’s trade with Jamaica was US$78.7 million, down 12.58 per cent from 2019.

Most of the trade, US$77 million of the amount, involved Jamaica selling goods to Russia.

Jamaica was Russia’s 124th largest trading partner in 2020 (down from 120th in 2019), accounting for 0.0139 per cent of Russia’s total trade (up from 0.0135 per cent in 2019).

Jamaica was Russia’s 172nd largest export market in 2020 (up from 174th in 2019), accounting for 0.0005 per cent of Russia’s total exports (up from 0.0003 per cent in 2019) the data source indicates.

Russian exports

According to the data source, 82 per cent of Russian exports to Jamaica in 2020 were mineral products. Chemical products accounted for eight per cent of Russia’s total exports to Jamaica. The rest was made up of machinery, equipment and vehicles, metals and metal products, wood and wood products.

The data source indicates that the largest gains in Russia’s exports to Jamaica in 2020 over 2019 were for mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes which all saw an increase of US $195,414.

Fertiliser

Fertilisers saw an increase of US$29,927 in 2020; while soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or scouring preparations, candles and similar articles, modeling pastes, “dental waxes” and dental preparations with a basis of plaster increased by US$14,672.

Jamaican exports

More data was sourced from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), an online data visualization and distribution platform in 2019, Jamaica exported US$71.1 million to Russia including mainly aluminium oxide ($70.5M), hard liquor ($554k), and coffee ($45.8k).

The OEC states that over the 23 years to 2019, the exports of Jamaica to Russia have increased at an annualised rate of 4.35 per cent, moving from US$26.7 million in 1996 to US$71.1 million in 2019.