The Russian Market of Industrial Rubber Goods

     The Russian market of industrial rubber goods (IRG) expanded slowly in 2007. The consumption of IRGs in Russia rose by only 1% to 385,000 tonnes over the previous year. There is now a growing trend towards the improvement of the qualitative characteristics of IRGs. This also implies an increase in the working life of rubber products. Despite the relatively high growth rates of the industries, where IRGs are mainly consumed, the Russian market’s capacity is rising slowly. Besides this, strong demand for high-quality products stimulates imports and, consequently, escalates business competition between internal and foreign companies. In H1, 2007, the market experienced a supply glut, which, however, came to nothing by June. In September 2007, demand for IRG was much lower than the supply and this led to relatively stable prices by the end of the year. In early 2008, this trend continued and the prices of the main groups of industrial rubber goods remained at the level of H₂, 2007. In April 2008, growing energy and transportation costs resulted in higher prices for rubber goods. For instance, prices of conveyor belts went up by 4-6%; driving belts by 3% on average; and hoses by 10-15%. To a lesser degree this phenomena affected the segment of moulded and extruded products from vulcanised rubber, where the price increase averaged 2.5%. Moreover, prices of some goods at the end of H1 did not change in comparison with the beginning of the year.

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