Over 56 percent of Japanese firms said their operations in Russia remained "partially" or "completely" suspended amid the country's ongoing war with Ukraine, a Japanese trade promotion agency survey showed Wednesday.
The total 56.7 percent figure was little changed from 60.3 percent a year earlier, according to the Japan External Trade Organization, highlighting the challenges Japanese companies face in normalizing their Russian operations.
The regularly conducted survey, held online from Jan 27 to Feb 7, covered 130 firms and received responses from 67.
Among respondents, 35.8 percent said they had "partially suspended" operations, 20.9 percent reported "completely suspending" them, and 35.8 percent said their businesses in the country were operating as usual.
In a multiple-choice section on reasons for suspending operations, the top responses were the risk of reputational damage and the Japanese government's sanctions against Russia.
The percentage of firms reporting difficulties in completing settlements or transferring funds within and out of Russia rose from a year earlier, apparently due to sanctions on Moscow.
Although U.S.-Russia cease-fire talks have gained momentum, 94.0 percent of firms said they were monitoring developments and had yet to take new action in Russia, while 6.0 percent said they were preparing for potential changes in the business environment.
Over the next one to two years, 62.7 percent of firms said they plan to maintain their current operations in Russia, while 6.0 percent said they were considering expansion, assuming a cease-fire or a return to peace.
© KYODO
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Mr Kipling
Good for the companies that used common sense and did not bow to pressure. There are a host of well known brands that are quite blatantly doing business in Russia after saying they were pulling out. One famous German luxury car maker has increased its exports to Georgia by several thousand % knowing that they will be gong to Russia.
sakurasuki
China company will fill that role, thanks to Japan runaway.
JJE
They will race back in once American companies do. Watch.
Also, interesting that almost half never left!
bo
Money talks !
starpunk
UN sanctions, anyone?
Jordi Puentealto
I’m very surprised that over half still operate in Russia.
theFu
What are the names of the other 43.3% companies? I'd like to know.
HopeSpringsEternal
Hard to halt in reality, as Russia's world's overall leading resource country and Japan badly needs resources, plus Russia is a neighboring country. Sometimes logical prevails.
Tokyo Guy
No civilised country should be doing any business at all with Russia until Russia ends its acts of aggression.