Markets to explore: Russia

From the collaboration between ICE-Agency and Edizioni Dativo, the column dedicated to Italian companies operating in packaging who are looking carefully at the possibility of growth abroad.

Russia: situation in the making
According to the data of the Federal Russian Customs Service in 2013, the total imports of packaging machinery was 1.159 billion USD, with an increase of 2.2% over the previous year, while in the first 11 months of 2014 imports amounted to 1.243 billion exceeded by 7.2% those of the 12 months of 2013.
Italy is firmly in second place among exporters, immediately after Germany. In 2013 all told, imports from Italy totalled 287.258 million dollars, giving the country a market share of 24.7%.
The trend is also confirmed in the first 11 months of 2014: Italy is still the second largest exporter after Germany, with an export value to Russia totalling 279.963 million USD.
However, if we only consider  imports of packaging machinery, thus excluding print and processing machines, while Italy remains second after Germany, in 2013 China rises to fourth place after France and Japan becomes the seventh country, preceded by the Netherlands and Switzerland. In the first 11 months of 2014, Switzerland became the third country (108.5 million USD), followed by the Netherlands (38.8 million USD), France (32.338 million USD), China (26.366 mln usd) and Japan (9.495 mln USD).

Considerations
Russia is a very important market for Italian companies, although the sharp depreciation of the ruble in late 2014 has damaged imports.
However, a growing demand for packaging machinery is expected, since the Russian domestic packaging market will increase and the local production of machines for packaging and converting is not able to meet the country’s needs.
In Russia too an increasing attention towards green technologies is developing, which will stimulate the demand for high-tech and low environmental impact intermediate goods. Here too Italian packaging systems are highly appreciated for their quality, reliability and the good price/quality ratio.  
                               

The project is coordinated from the ICE-Agenzia headquarters in Rome, out of the Office of Engineering, Chemicals, Energy and Environment, directed by Alessandro Liberatori. Management representative: Matteo Masini, tel. 06.5992.9356, email: [email protected]