The blocking of exports of Sardinian products to Russia should have very modest consequences for the Sardinian economy. And even if relations were to further tighten, putting all the economic sectors dedicated to exports at risk, there would be no particular negative repercussions for Sardinian companies.
This is what can be deduced from the latest report of the Cna Sardinia Study Center which analyzes the exposure of Sardinian exporting companies towards Russia.
According to Cna, the value of Sardinian exports to the country led by Vladimir Putin amounts to 14 million euros, equal to 0.3% of the entire regional export (a figure much lower than the national average of 1.5%) and exports mainly concern the chemical sector (84% of the total, equal to approximately 12 million euros and 4.4% of the sector's global exports).
All the other sectors are more marginal. The agri-food sector is worth just 340 thousand euros: 0.2% of the total regional agri-food exports.
In general, 2021 closed with a strong recovery in the export of Sardinian manufacturing products (+ 64%) but below that of 2019 (-2.1%). In any case, 2021 recorded a record surge in regional non-oil exports which far exceeded pre-pandemic levels (+ 31.1%); Sardinia is the second Italian region for growth in sales abroad compared to 2019 (+1.29 billion compared to 984 million in 2019).
The agri-food industry is doing very well (+ 14%) as well as the metal processing industry, + 59% on 2019.
The block ordered in February by the EU affects only some marginal sectors of Sardinian exports (telecommunications, measuring instruments, electro-medical equipment, optical instruments and photographic equipment, general and special purpose machines, motor vehicles, boating, aeronautics and space technologies) and it affects 1.2% of exports in these sectors. As a percentage, the blocked exports represent 0.01% of the total Sardinian international trade (600 thousand euros out of 5.5 billion): 0.05% if refined petroleum products are excluded.
"Both with reference to the sectors involved in the tightening of the sanctions framework up to now, and looking at the total economic sectors, the exposure of Sardinian exporting companies to Russia is rather modest - comment Luigi Tomasi and Francesco Porcu, respectively president and regional secretary of Cna Sardinia -. The greatest impact of a total block of exports would be in the chemical sector, although even in this case these numbers are anything but macroscopic. At the national level, however, the greatest risks are concentrated in the economic triangle Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, although even in this case the maximum potential impact is, after all, little more than marginal ".
