Translated material
The accident at Fukushima did not affect the economic relations between Sakhalin and Japan
The accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1, which occurred exactly 2 years ago, did not affect the activity of foreign economic activity of the Sakhalin region and Japan, the press service of the Sakhalin customs reports.
“Today, Japan remains one of the main importing countries supplying goods to the Sakhalin region: the first position in terms of value is occupied by the United States, second by Japan, third by Great Britain,” the press service notes.
The value of imports into the Sakhalin region from Japan over the past three years amounted, according to customs data, to $121 million in 2010, $171 million in 2011, $109 million in 2012.
“The increase in the indicator in 2011 and, on the contrary, the decrease in 2012 is explained by the increase in imported engineering products in 2011 and the reduction in imports of ferrous metal products in 2012,” the press service explains. These goods, as well as sea vessels and boats, are the main ones in the structure of Japanese imports.
The volumes of food products from this country in the total mass of imported products are insignificant and do not have a characteristic decrease associated with the emergency situation. Thus, the volumes of imported alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from Japan in 2011 and 2012 changed from 33 tons to 23 tons, respectively, while the volumes of finished food products almost doubled over the same period - from 13 tons to 22 tons.
Cars and vehicles remain the most popular products from Japan. Since 2010, the supply of Japanese cars has not only not decreased, but has increased significantly. In 2010, the Sakhalin region imported almost 3.3 thousand Japanese "foreign cars", in 2011 - more than 3.4 thousand "foreign cars" and in 2012 - almost 5.2 thousand "foreign cars".
In February 2013, compared to the same period in 2012, the value of imported products from Japan increased by 20% and amounted to $6.5 million.
After the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Sakhalin region, which borders Japan, carries out careful customs control over the import of imported products from the island state. In particular, radiation monitoring is carried out using stationary and portable radiometric systems available at all sea and air checkpoints.
From the moment of the accident at the nuclear power plant to the present day, Sakhalin customs has prevented the import into the region of 78 “fouling” objects from Japan, mainly cars and spare parts for them. In 2011, customs officers identified 32 such objects, in 2012 - 45, in 2013 - 1 object. Most of the radiation-contaminated objects were sent back to Japan.