Coatings World - July 2017

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According to the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, in 2016

Russia’s coatings industry increased combined production performance by 8. 3 percent to 1.3 million metric tons.

Russia’s Government Designing
New Shape of Coatings Industry

by Vladislav Vorotnikov Russia Correspondent

The coating industry was among the first seg- ments of Russia’s economy that overcame recession starting back in 2014 and in large part this was possible thanks to the governmental efforts aimed to maintain a good investment environment for domestic and foreign manufacturers.

In May 2016, the Industry and Trade Ministry adopted a comprehensive program for the development of the country’s chemical complex with a separate sub-program dedicated to the coatings industry. The program is amended and updated every half-year and the last version envisaged that Russia will become a net exporter of coatings within the coming several years.

Sergey Tsib, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade at the post in in-house publication of the country’s government revealed that in 2016 Russia’s coatings industry increased combined production performance by 8. 3 percent compared to 2015, to 1.3 million metric tons (mt) in total with the overall value of some Rub 102. 6 billion ($1.8 billion).

Russia is keeping up the pressure to take the volume of import down and in 2016 it already cut it by 13 percent compared to 2015 to 352,700 mt, he emphasized. In the meantime, export last year was surging, jumping by 55 percent year-over-year to 240,000 mt. Tsib said Russia is still exporting less coatings than importing, primarily “due to the low base effect,” but promised this situation will not last for long.

In 2018, he continued, Russia’s government plans to embark on a separate program for the development of the coating industry for the period until 2025. It should stipulate some interim goals on the way to matching the long-term targets provided by the last year’s program for chemical industry development.

The latter, among other, forecasts that in 2030 Russia’s coating markets will rise in size by two times to Rub 25 billion ($438 million), together with the average use of coatings per capita from 10. 8 kg last year to 22 kg next year. The important point is that share of importers in Russia by that time should reduce from 44 percent to 40 percent, while export jumps by 20 times.