Media: Russia may ban the supply of some Japanese cars

Japan may ban the supply of new and used cars with an engine capacity of more than 1.9 liters to Russia, as well as hybrid cars and electric cars, writes Yomiuri newspaper.

It is assumed that the ban can be approved before the end of July and will come into force in August. These measures may be introduced as part of the next package of sanctions.

Yomiuri noted that Japanese cars are very popular in Russia due to their high quality and low cost. According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the value of exports to Russia at the end of last year amounted to about 600 billion yen (about $4.33 billion at the current exchange rate), which is about 30% less than in the previous year. At the same time, used cars accounted for about a quarter of all exports from Japan.

At the end of 2022, Vedomosti, citing data from Passport Industrial Consulting (a joint venture between Avtostat and the operator of electronic TCP), based on statistics from the Federal Customs Service wrote, that in the period from January to November 2022, 221,300 used passenger cars were imported into Russia – older than three years. According to Sergey Udalov, executive director of Avtostat, 90% of these cars were imported from Japan.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Japan introduced several packages of sanctions against Russia. Now, the export of cars more expensive than 6 million yen (or about 3.94 million rubles at the exchange rate of the Central Bank on July 18, 2023) is already under restrictions.