Russia
marketing, so as the result the company
has “allowed import products to appear
in the country.” He also complained that
import coatings dictate terms to the market now with the enormous advertising
budgets and effective marketing campaigns of global players.
At the forefront now there is not
the quality of goods, but the consumer
awareness about the advantages.
At the same time, Russia’s manufacturers are also trying to expand their sales
in Belarus, offering products of not only
economy, but often even in sub-economy
segment. Over past years, this tendency
has been observed in both industrial and
decorative coating segments, Pogrebitsky
said. According to him, the Customs
Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan
in general is a good thing, as it expands
sales opportunities for all market players.
However, he said that it remains good
only when manufacturers remain honest
to consumers and competitors.
Foreign sales look
promising
At the same time, the devaluation of national currency and the economic crisis
in the country has encouraged country’s
coatings producers to develop export
supplies. According to Pogrebitsky over
the past several years Lakokraska has
significantly expanded export geography
and now supplies coatings to 30 countries around the world with 46 percent
of supplies still accounts for Russia, 26
percent - for Ukraine and 4 percent - for
rest CIS countries.
According to Lakokraska’s general director Andrey Soiko the company now applies
for comprehensive development program
for the period between 2016 and 2025. In
2016 Lakokraska produced 50,000 tons
of coatings, exporting 70 percent of this
amount, or 35,000 tone. By 2025, the company targets boosting of a production capacity 70 percent to 85,000 tons and jump
in export by the same 70 percent to almost
60,000 tons, Soiko revealed.
To do this, in 2016-2025 Lakokraska
eyes large-scale modernization with $70
million of investment value. These funds
should be spent on expansion of production capacities, as well as reduction costs.
In additional, Lakokraska eyes expansion
of range in particular starting production
of highly viscous paint materials in coming years, Soiko said.
At the same time, an another coating
producer in Belarus Minsk-based Unibud
Color also targets foreign sales, in the
first place in Russia’s Siberia, but the
company decided to move another way
and commission localized capacities in
Novosibirsk. As explained Ivan Sukalo,
the general director of Unibud Color, the
company will build plant with the pro-
duction of 20 tons of coatings per shift
for the RUB 720 million (US$ 13 million).
According to Sukalo, the actual demand
for coatings in Siberian federal district
now is 200,000 tones per year and with
the launching of the plant Unibud Color
hopes to occupy 20 percent of market’s size
or 40,000 tons. The payback period of the
project could be around 6-8 years, but in
case if some state support would be granted, this figure might be significantly lower.
At the moment, Unibud Color operates
one plant in Minsk Oblast with the capacity of 15 tons of coatings per year and
according to the company’s estimations
it accounts for 12 percent of sales at the
Belarus market. Sukalo believes in bright
future of the new plant, at the same time
admitting that here the company will have
to face strong competition with coatings
manufacturers from Germany and Finland.
However, just like in Belarus, coatings market in Siberia federal district
remains depressive over recent years.
For instance, Russia’s consulting agency
DSO Consulting estimated that in 2016
the sales of coatings here dropped by
10-15 percent, compared to 2015 due
to the fall of purchasing power of citizens and reducing volume of construction works. CW
