TOKYO, August 7. /TASS/. New restrictions on the export of cars to Russia imposed by Tokyo’s authorities may cut supplies of pre-owned Japanese cars to Russia by almost half, Hironori Fushita, associate professor at the Russian Studies Department of the Foreign Studies Faculty at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies and research fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, told TASS.

"According to preliminary estimates based on figures provided by Japan’s finance ministry, just about 110,000 used cars potentially intended to be exported to Russia will now not be subject to the new sanctions. They may generate revenues to the tune of 112.6 bln yen (around $793 mln)," he explained.

"That said, 204,000 used cars were delivered to Russia in 2022, which accounted for 19% of all Japanese exports of such cars," the expert added. "In value terms, this yielded around 250 bln yen (around $1.8 bln), or roughly 26% of total revenues from all Japanese exports of used cars. In other words, as a result of the new sanctions, supplies of used cars to Russia will go down by around half both in numerical and in value terms," he said.

"Russia used to be a major foreign market for Japan’s business of used cars. The current measures will inevitably have a serious impact here," the expert stressed.