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Moscow high-tech exports grew by a quarter

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Moscow high-tech exports grew by a quarter

The composition of Russian exports has long ceased to be predominantly raw materials. Along with oil and gas deliveries abroad, Russia exports more and more finished products, including high-tech products. The past year 2020 showed the same positive trend even amid the global pandemic and oil crisis, thereby mitigating the consequences of these phenomena for the Russian economy.

Results of the year and prospects for high-tech exports

Moscow's non-resource and non-energy exports increased significantly in the total mass of exports over the past year. In the first eight months of 2020 the amount of foreign shipments of products of Moscow enterprises amounted to 21.52 billion U.S. dollars. This is 22.7% of total Russian exports. According to the total results of the year, the figure may increase to 38% - such estimate experts of the Moscow Center for the Support and Development of Industrial Exports ANO "Mosprom".

The year of 2020 showed the most intensive growth of Russian and, in particular, Moscow high-tech exports mainly to Asian countries. According to the Deputy Mayor of Moscow on Economic Policy Vladimir Efimov, the supply volume of high-tech goods to these countries has grown by more than a quarter in relation to 2019.

So, Japan alone bought products of Moscow enterprises for more than half a billion U.S. dollars - it is as much as 26.2% more than last year. Exports to China grew almost as much - by 22.4% - and amounted to 563.31 million U.S. dollars. In addition to these countries, the products of Moscow enterprises are in high demand in Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as in the Western countries, including Germany and the USA.

Over the next 10 years it is planned to increase the volume of non-resource and non-energy exports, so that by 2030 its volume will increase by 70% compared to the current level. This is one of the priority tasks set for the government by the July presidential decree.

Export growth points - Moscow-based technology companies

Experts see the main opportunities for the most intensive growth of non-resource and non-energy export in the supplies of the same high-tech products: microelectronics, electric equipment, instruments and machines.

This approach has a double efficiency potential. On the one hand, money flowing into the treasury, and on the other, a powerful incentive for the development of industry, science, and, consequently, the country's economy as a whole. In addition, the growth of Russian high-tech exports will naturally increase the country's influence in the international arena.

In such an export structure the role of large cities and Moscow in particular acquires key importance. Such productions require the attraction of qualified highly paid personnel and serve as a serious factor in the development of cities. Therefore, the Moscow administration in every way supports Moscow technological companies, assisting in the entry of products into foreign markets.

For example, during the first eight months of the last year the products of the Moscow Region enterprises amounted to approximately 30% of the total volume of the capital's non-resource and non-energy export, which is almost 6.5 billion U.S. dollars. Telecommunication equipment, household chemicals, cosmetics, medicines, components and spare parts for microelectronics were in particular demand from the partner countries.

As an example of successful entry into foreign markets, the Moscow-based Mikron, a major manufacturer of microchips, can serve as an example. According to Gulnara Khasyanova, general director of the company, deliveries abroad now account for about 20% of all sales.

Another example of production of competitive products on foreign markets can be the company "Epiel". The company produces the basis for microchips - special wafers with application of the thinnest layers of crystalline silicon. In just a few years the enterprise has managed to increase its presence in the volume of Moscow exports from 1.5% to 13%.

Government Support

With all the demand for high-tech products from Moscow companies, Moscow companies are still experiencing some difficulties. Such companies should have solid advantages over other world manufacturers.

According to Evgeny Baranov, the head of the department of foreign economic activity of T8 (the leading domestic manufacturer of spectral multiplexing telecommunication equipment for optical networks), it is difficult to operate under the conditions of tough competition and to maintain advantages over the world high-tech companies. Gulnara Khasyanova agrees with his opinion, stressing that we have to compete with foreign companies that receive significant government support.

The executives pointed out that the Moscow government started to promote export more and more actively. According to Khasyanova, the company entrusted to her received in 2020 a subsidy aimed at compensating transport costs related to the organization of export deliveries. Epiel received the same subsidy, which, according to its managers, improved its margins and gave it much more room for flexibility in negotiating with partners and negotiating prices.

Alexander Prokhorov, the head of the department of investment and industrial policy, commented the position of the Moscow government in these issues. He emphasized that in the conditions of the pandemic and the crisis a close dialogue between Moscow and its partners in Asia was maintained all the time. Such close communication was one of the factors of export growth even in such a difficult year. Dozens of meetings were successfully held in the format of video conferences, augmented and virtual reality. In particular, the Buyer Program in China was carried out in this way, which included a serious business mission.

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