Dmitry Evdokimov on the growth of import dependence in a number of Russian industries

Russian industries, such as coal mining and medicine production, increased their dependence on imports in 2022, despite the overall decline, follows from the estimates of RANEPA experts. According to Dmitry Evdokimov, the problem lies not in the volume of imports, but in vulnerability to external shocks due to the inability to quickly replace important components. In the coal industry, the growth of dependence is associated with the import of mining equipment, especially in underground mining. Tobacco and pharmaceuticals are sectors with high technological dependence, whose imports have become more expensive due to problems of availability of specialized equipment and components. «The difficulty lies in the fact that technological autonomy in this industry requires many years of investment, scientific base and international cooperation," the Gaidar Institute expert explained.

Dmitry Evdokimov agreed with the authors that the reduction of import dependence in certain sectors of the economy corresponds to macroeconomic and structural changes, but this did not always bring positive technological changes. In most cases, it led to the replacement or elimination of components from the production process, which affects the quality of products.

Taking into account regional aspects, sanctions and logistical changes affected regions with a high share of assembly production, such as the Kaluga, Leningrad and Nizhny Novgorod regions, as well as Kaliningrad. At the same time, new points of growth have emerged, including through investments from Asia and modernization based on imported equipment (for example, in the Amur and Irkutsk regions, Tatarstan, and the Moscow region).

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