The CAREC group of Central Asian nations is to expedite their regional comprehensive and transparent regional cooperation mechanism to facilitate cross-border trade and investment. These will link with Russian and Chinese digital logistics networks to the east and west and further enhance multilateral, Eurasian trade efficiencies.
The United States has effectively sanctioned Russia out of the European lubricants and engine oil markets by insisting that Gazprom Neft sell its stakes in Serbia’s NIS. This will make Europe more dependent on alternative American sourced products typically costing four to five times more.
Russia’s Far Eastern Railway has reported a 3.4% increase in cargo during 4M 2026 after a decline in 2025. Shipments of coal, oil and petroleum, iron and manganese ore, non-ferrous ores and sulfur all increased.
Russia has begun exporting aluminium to Armenia via rail and Azerbaijan transit in signs that bilateral relations between the two South Caucasus nations is returning to normality after years of hostility.
Russian and South Sudanese energy officials and investors have met to discuss requirements and opportunities in South Sudan, whose economy is mainly energy based across multiple sectors. The country has the potential to become a Central African energy hub.
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Kazakhstan is having to redirect oil exports flows away from Germany due to Ukrainian refusals to open the Druzhba pipeline to the EU. Supplies are instead being redirected to Russia and the Caspian states. Kazakhstan has been supplying about 2.5% of Germany’s total annual oil imports, with the current situation increasing more pressure on Germany’s fragile economic state.
Russia’s exports of chicken eggs have been increasing, with the Mongolian consumer market reacting after their Free Trade Agreement with the EAEU kicking in. Mongolia is now Russia’s largest chicken eggs export market, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Abkhazia, and Kyrgyzstan.
We deep dive the UAE’s decision to leave OPEC from May 1 and examine the impact on Russian, Asian and Global markets, and assess what other oil related supply shocks could manifest in these markets over the short, medium and longe terms.
Fresh seafood travelling from the Russian Far East to primary distribution points and onward consumer markets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tolyatti, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg are up 60% in the first four months of 2026 compared to last year.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has been visiting the President and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan in Astana. The two countries bilateral trade dipped slightly last year, and with joint memberships in the Eurasian Economic Union, Commonwealth of Independent States and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, plus increasing need for developing China transit, both parties signed a development agreement for 2027-2028.
Japan has recommenced purchasing Russian oil with a delivery expected from Russia’s Sakhalin blend crude on Sunday. 95% of Japan’s oil is imported from the Middle East leaving the country with limited options for importing replacements.
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