Russian, Japanese economies continue to be impacted by crude
Monday January 25, 2016
We've had a number of economic releases out of Russia, all of which point to a country feeling the pain of low oil prices. The Russian economy contracted by 3.7% in 2015, the biggest drop since 2009, while industrial production shrank by 4.5% YoY in December (worse than the -4.2% expected) and retail sales dropped by -15.3% YoY (although not as bad as the -16% expected). The unemployment rate remained at 5.8% in December.
Russian crude production is up at post-Soviet records despite low prices, as the government tries to pull in as much revenue as possible. Oil exports accounts for ~70% of Russia's total export revenues;Â Russian oil production reached a Soviet-era high of 11.4 million barrels per day in 1987, before dropping to a low of 6.1 mn bpd in 1996.
Driven by a shrinking population and increasing fuel efficiency for vehicles, Japanese crude oil imports have fallen to their lowest level since 1988. Oil product demand peaked in the fiscal year of 1999, and has been in decline since. According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance, imports fell by 2.3% last year.
According to our ClipperData, Japanese imports fell by 3% in 2015 on the year prior. The Arab / Persian Gulf overwhelmingly accounted for the largest portion of crude imports la...