challenges remain to bring into compliance all terms and definitions in the coating industry to the current legislative base.
This means that firstly the authorities need
to figure out what is what in the industry,
including what substances in the receipts
of coatings can be potentially harmful and
as the result should be restricted in use.
Russia is mastering new
types of coatings
Meanwhile, Russia’s coating manufacturers are really catching up with the
global players in terms of the product
quality and range, Averyanov claimed.
He explained that domestic companies in
recent years made a breakthrough – start-
ing to produce some high-technological
coatings that previously were only im-
ported into the country.
In particular, domestic manufacturers
developed coatings for the anticorrosive
protection of metal structures with a service
life of up to 30 years. It has also designed a
group of self-cleaning coatings, as well as
highly resistant varnishes for parquet. New
generation of coatings has been developed
for the aircraft industry. Some new coatings
were developed for industrial applications
in engineering, railway cars, wagons, buses
and trucks, Averyanov listed.
As of now, imported coatings still
prevail in car painting, as well as in the
shipbuilding segment, Averyanov noted,
adding that in theory domestic manufac-
turers can become real competitors to the
foreigners in this segment within the com-
ing 2-3 years as well, but only in the case
of some relevant support from the state
would be allocated.
At the same time, it is yet not known
if the government would be willing to
include some state aid for the research
and development projects in the coat-
ing industry into the industry’s develop-
ment program in the period from 2018 to
2025. Russia’s manufacturers are repeat-
edly complaining that their budgets for
innovations are limited and much smaller
compare to budgets of the global players
and this factor really limits the potential
of import-replacement initiatives.
Speaking about this issue Tsib admitted that there is not any centralized work
in the area of R&D in the coating industry for now. Today it is only limited
with the initiatives of the particular companies, which are inventing some know-how and using it to manufacture some
marketable products. However, there is
no any “system development” yet.
At the moment, Russia’s government
is supporting the manufacturers in the
form of lowered customs duties for raw
materials wherever it is necessary, also
reimbursing some spends associated with
the export development and allocating
some target aid to the high-tech production, Tsib informed. However, the state
support scheme is not included any subsidies on the research activities.
The Year of Ecology
In addition, 2017 was declared the Year
of Ecology in Russia and according to the
government some relevant initiatives for the
introduction of environmental-friendly technologies should be put in place in almost
every country’s industry, including coating.
It is known that the government
is preparing some kind of a list of best
available technologies (BAT) the use of
which should bring the quality of domestic products in line with some global standards of ecological compatibility.
The application of BAT should become compulsory by next year and large
fines are promised to be placed on manufacturers who will violate them. At the
same time, most details of this reform remain behind the curtain. CW
Russia’s producers need support of R&D projects (In the photo: LKM-Povolsie laboratory in Volga Federal District).
The use of coating per capita in Russia will rise twofold by 2030 (In the photo: Teknocoatings warehouse
near St. Petersburg).
