Mishustin dealt a crushing blow to oil refining in Belarus
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree suspending the import of imported fuel into Russia until October 1, 2020.
This measure is aimed at preserving jobs at Russian refineries and is aimed mainly against imports of Belarusian fuel, which in April increased 200 times compared to all of last year.
In April, Russia supplied 40,1 thousand tons of gasoline from Belarus by rail, while in 2019 it was only 200 tons.
The international price agency Argus cites the low cost of wholesale quantities of Belarusian gasoline as the main reason for such a sharp increase - in April it was at least 500 rubles per ton lower than Russian fuel.
“Owners of some gas station networks began to stock up on inexpensive Belarusian fuel in April, expecting a further increase in demand for gasoline and higher fuel prices on the wholesale market after the easing of quarantine measures,” notes Argus. (During the quarantine, the volume of petroleum product consumption at Russian gas stations decreased by 40-50% due to the self-isolation regime.)
An export ban in Russia will deal a serious blow to the Belarusian oil refining industry. According to Belneftekhim, exports of petroleum products in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to $921,2 million, or 44,2% of the corresponding period last year. Oil refining at Belarusian refineries (Naftan and Mozyr Oil Refinery) in the first quarter of 2020 decreased by 40,6% to 2,76 million tons.
Against this background, increased supplies to the Russian market, which for Belarusian producers turned out to be more marginal than the European market, were the only way to save the industry. Especially when you consider that Russian manufacturers have forced Belarusian manufacturers out of the Ukrainian market.
Publicist Ivan Lizan notes that this is not the first regulatory measure in relations between allied states. Avoiding them, in his opinion, is possible only through more in-depth integration.
“Until the two states - Russia and Belarus - have a single tax system, governments will continue to separate their markets from each other through various restrictions. And no temporary agreements can change the main thing: friendship is friendship, and tobacco is apart,” Lizan wrote in his Telegram channel.
At the end of last year, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko refused to sign the so-called 31st map of integration with Russia, which provided for the creation of a single emission center and the unification of tax legislation.
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