Chemicals industry in Russia showed growth rate of 5,4% in 2020

Despite the pandemic and the restrictions it imposed, the chemicals industry of Russia showed 5,4% growth in 2020. The volume of goods produced by the chemical sector in 2020 is priced at approximately 4,6 trillion rubles; (~60 billion US dollars); even though production volumes decreased by 1-2% in the first half of 2020.

The situation has changed because of the enterprises getting involved in battling the pandemic, says Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Mikhail Ivanov. “With the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia many enterprises were able to reorient their facilities in order to produce skin antiseptics and disinfectants; medical gloves, protective glasses and shields. This allowed to ensure ceaseless supplies of such products to the medical organizations and to provide the people with necessary personal protection equipment”, he underlined. The capacity for producing various goods was increased in March-June of 2020: skin antiseptics by eight times; medical gloves by ten times and protective glasses by more than five times.

This has not been halted even by the fact that the chemical sector’s facilities depreciation rate is approximately 48%. The industry can modernize only the main funds. Over the last five years investments into chemical sector has comprised over 3 trillion rubles, Mikhail Ivanov says. “Under the framework of the Strategy of Development of Chemical and Petrochemical Sector up to 2030 the realization of about 200 investment projects is planned with the cumulative volume of investments being higher than 1 trillion rubles. Over 70 of these projects have been successfully completed”, — the Deputy Minister adds. “The last year was not an exception – counting since the beginning of 2020, 12 investment projects have been completed with total financing of 17,5 billion rubles, more than 500 new high-performance jobs were created”.

As a result, the manufacturing of dyes and pigments has grown by 11%, varnishes and paints – 6,5%, pipes, hoses, plastic fittings – 12%, polymer plates, lists and films – 11%, mineral fertilizers – 5,5%. Imports in the chemical industry comprise less than 30%. “This is a good competitive field which incentivizes the industry sector to grow further”, the Deputy Minister says. “In separate segments import dependence still persists, 40 to 100%. We mainly import small and middle scale chemicals”.

In December of 2020 the President of Russia gave a task to increase the volumes of small and middle scale chemicals by 70% by the year 2030. In order to do that the chemical sector will have to face the insufficient size of the internal market, the lack of investments, technological lag and absence of accessible component base.