MOSCOW, RUSSIA - On October 21, 2015, the World Trade Center Moscow hosted a large conference to discuss promotion of non-commodity exports from Russia. The event was organized by the Russian Export Center, EXIAR and Exim bank of Russia. The WTC Moscow was an intellectual partner of the conference.

More than 400 participants attended, including representatives of public authorities, development institutes, business and industry associations, and also of the business, banking and expert communities, who discussed the most important matters related to support that needs to be provided to Russian exports.

The key discussion topics were the conditions for increasing non-commodity exports, and active cooperation of all parties involved in international economic activities. The speakers noted timeliness and relevance of the Russian Export Center that has been established as a “one-stop shop” for exporters.

During the event, representatives of government bodies and private businesses discussed a wide scope of problems, both of systemic and practical nature. In the opinion of the conference attendees, the Center has a vast potential and can contribute a lot to resolution of those issues. Among the challenges to be faced and tackled by the Center is active contribution to improvement of the regulatory framework to back up exports and to promote specific export projects.

The conference highlighted a growing interest in non-commodity Russian exports. According to the data provided by the WTC Moscow, Russian non-commodity exports are doing quite well actually. According to the estimates provided by the All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Market Studies, non-commodity goods accounted for 13.9% of the Russian GDP in 2014, while commodities — for 12.8% (non-commodity goods included, in that particular case, processed products of the fuel and energy sector and those of the metallurgic industry). Additionally, the Federal Customs Service says that from January to August of this year fuel and energy products accounted for 68.4% of Russian exports, structurally speaking (75.1% from January to August 2014).

According to statistics, in the first half of this year, non-commodity exports outperformed the Russian commodity export sector in terms of growth rates. Moreover, that trend has been observed in the past couple of years. Only today the gap has become even more noticeable: 11% versus 4.8%. The data was quoted by Vladimir Salamatov, General Director of the World Trade Center Moscow, at the 3rd conference “Russian Non-Commodity Exports: The Vector of Development of Economy.”

“We are accustomed to assertions that oil and raw materials account for the larger part of Russian exports. But in 2014, non-commodity exports accounted for 13.9% of the country’s GDP, and raw material exports for 12.8%. It’s very good performance, as commodity and non-commodity exports are in balance,” emphasized Salamatov. To a lesser or greater degree, that balance is kept in Australia (7.3% and 9.2%). The world’s key exporters, Germany and China, display simply gigantic gaps in that respect (38.7% and 0.5%; 22.5% and 0.1%). “One can certainly agree that the volume of processing or added value of non-commodity goods is insufficient today, but, generally, the trend is quite positive,” added the General Director of the WTC Moscow.

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