ISSN 2674-8053

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine impacting sectors around the world

By Marina Ariboni and Nicole Bonafé

In today's globalized world, armed conflicts between states can have direct economic repercussions on other countries, even if they do not have political relations, economic or commercial some with others in conflict. under this bias, the current war between Russia and Ukraine is observed, in a perspective that these countries, mainly Russia, are important players in the international market, with expressive export and import flows. In the case of Brazil, for example, the partnership is very intense, because Russia is the sixth country from which Brazil buys the most products, being the most common, wheat, corn and fertilizers, who represented in 2021, US $5,7 billions in imports (according to Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services). With this in mind, as much as a large part of the sectors around the world are being affected due to the war, those that were most impacted were logistics and transport, which will be explained in the following paragraphs..

First, since the beginning of the war, countries around the globe have already begun to feel the impacts of high fuel and gas prices, which automatically caused the increase in logistics costs worldwide. Besides that, there was an interruption in the supply of fertilizers, in which Russia is the world's largest producer, and grains, like wheat (Russia and Ukraine are, respectively, the first and fourth largest wheat producers in the world), barley and corn, which causes an increase in prices and food on the international scene.

In addition, with the various sanctions applied to Russia, both imports and exports were directly compromised. In this sense, many Russian shipments and flights ended up being suspended, and a large amount of products destined for Russia had to be canceled as well. However,, the truth is that no one knows how long the war will last, that is why there are already several specialists outlining action plans. Thus, for logistics professionals, alternatives should be sought and, one of the ideas would be to look for new commercial partners and seek in other countries the supply of its national needs. Besides that, the other option would be to look for regional solutions, that is, focus on domestic domestic production and, so that there is less and less economic dependence on Russia and Ukraine for the formation of businesses.

In short, understanding that conflicts are internal problem makers for almost all areas within a State, countries need to, who are not in conflict and are dependent in some area on those who are, have other alternatives to follow so as not to harm, on a large scale, its population, considering that the priority of a State must be the security of its people, taking into account access to basic items, and protection against these conflicts

Therefore, the aforementioned conflict, that is affecting Europe, and the whole world, since February 2022, is serving as an example of how states are interdependent, and need a “good neighbor” policy so that everyone can survive, and make sure your population is not suddenly destitute.

References

BEMPARANA. War between Russia and Ukraine impacts international logistics. Available in: https://www.bemparana.com.br/noticias/economia/guerra-entre-russia-e-ucrania-impacta-logistica-internacional-273629/. Access in: 16 set. 2022.

E-COMMERCEBRASIL. THE IMPACT OF THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE ON LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORT CHAINS. Available in: https://www.ecommercebrasil.com.br/artigos/conflito-ucrania-logistica-transporte. Access in: 16 set. 2022.

ITRANSPORTE. War between Russia and Ukraine: what are the logistical impacts?. Available in: https://itransport.com.br/guerra-russia-e-ucrania-e-impactos-logisticos/. Access in: 16 set. 2022.

UNINTER. The impacts of the invasion of Ukraine on international logistics. Available in: https://www.uninter.com/noticias/os-impactos-da-invasao-da-ucrania-sobre-a-logistica-internacional. Access in: 16 set. 2022.

Center for European Studies and Business