Russia Sanctions Will Lead to an Inflationary Disaster
by Chris MacIntosh via International Man
You might be thinking we are “pro-Russia”. Nothing of the sort.
In essence, we would like to point out how Russia is way more important to the world economy than it was some 20 years ago. To embargo or limit Russia’s exports will only lead to an inflationary super storm.
Russia is a major supplier of the most wanted raw materials including: palladium, 46% of global production, platinum 15% of global protection as well as gold, oil, natural gas, coal, nickel, aluminum, copper and silver, as well as wheat.
Some 20 years ago Europe (and the “West”) had the North Sea, which produced as much as Russia and the US. Now it is a shadow of its former self. And if US shale continues to disappoint, it won’t be long before Russia becomes the world’s biggest oil producer “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Do you really think that Rosneft, Lukoil, or Gazprom are in trouble of being sanctioned when they supply some 36% of Europe’s oil needs?
Have a look at the below chart to see who supplies Europe’s oil?
And natural gas (not that this is unappreciated).
But there are probably a couple of commodities that few have given any thought to, coal in particular. Russia exports almost as much thermal coal as Australia (granted the chart below is a few years old but volumes wouldn’t have changed materially in that time). Russia also exports about as much coking coal as the US and about 40% of Australia.
Hmmm… switch off Russian natgas (for a theoretical exercise) and the world will need a stink load more of coal of which Russia is one of the top 5 global suppliers.
Guess you could always turn to uranium?
Granted Kazakhstan isn’t Russia, but they are rather friendly. Of course, uranium produced (yellow cake) isn’t the stuff that goes into nuclear reactors. That is enriched uranium, which Russia (Rosatom) accounts for 50% of world enriched uranium production. That is absolutely extraordinary. Roughly 20% of the US electricity supply comes from nuclear.
You know who’s really taking it up in the chin?
Our French mates run the place on nuclear, and guess what? Over half of this enriched uranium comes from the Russkies.
And who accounts for a fair whack of grain exports?
And without fertilizer crops don’t grow.
Leading Fertilizer Exporting Countries Based on Value – 2020 (USD Billions)
Should the rest of the world be sanctioning Russia’s commodity exports, we’d likely see Weimar Republic style inflation in those countries, particularly Europe.
Yikes!
Reprinted with permission from International Man.