Taiwan has become the world's largest importer of russian ligroin

According to the published report, Taiwan imported $1.3 billion worth of russian ligroin in the first half of 2025, becoming its largest buyer in the world. The average monthly import volume increased almost sixfold compared to 2022.

This situation creates a striking contrast, as Taiwan has officially joined the economic sanctions against russia and provided Ukraine with bilateral aid worth $50 million. At the same time, according to the report, the island paid russia more than $11.2 billion for imports of russian energy resources, an amount 220 times greater than the amount of aid provided to Ukraine.

In total, these purchases brought $1.7 billion to russia's budget in the form of mineral extraction taxes. Analysts have calculated that this amount is sufficient to finance the production of 170,000 Gerbera-type drones, which russia is using to attack Ukraine.

The study revealed a clear discrepancy in the approaches of Taiwanese state-owned and private companies. State-owned enterprises such as Taipower and Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC) successfully abandoned russian coal and ligroin as early as mid-2024.

However, the private sector has taken the opposite path. Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) increased its dependence on russian ligroin from 9% to 90% in the first half of 2025. This made FPCC the world's largest buyer of russian ligroin from the start of the full-scale invasion until the end of June 2025.

From 24 February 2022 to the end of June 2025, Taiwan imported 6.8 million tonnes of russian ligroin worth US$4.9 billion, becoming the third largest buyer in the world during this period. The key supplier was the russian company Novatek, which is under US sanctions. It accounted for 72% of all russian ligroin imports to Taiwan.

The report also provides evidence of price restrictions being violated.

It notes that 88% of russian ligroin imports to Taiwan were carried out by vessels owned or insured in countries belonging to the ‘price coalition.’ However, the prices for ligroin exceeded the established limit of $45 per barrel, which indicates a disregard for the sanctions policy. As an example, the report cites the unloading on 16 September 2025 of a tanker carrying $43.8 million worth of gas oil from the sanctioned Vadinar oil refinery.

Source: Ukrainian Pravda