In recent years, the development status and prospects of domestically produced construction machinery in Russia have become one of the key issues of concern in the Russian industry. Although this topic has been repeatedly discussed in numerous industry events, professionals are still dissatisfied with the insufficient exposure of domestic construction machinery manufacturers in exhibitions in Russia. To address this issue, the "2024 Road" exhibition forum held in Yekaterinburg this year provided a large-scale exhibition hall specifically for Russian domestic construction machinery manufacturers. In addition to exhibitions, the forum also set up professional conferences to discuss the current situation of the road engineering machinery market. The forum is chaired by Vyacheslav Pronin, Vice President of the Russian Specialized Machinery Association and President of the Road Construction Machinery and Equipment Branch. He briefly described the complexity and contradictions of the current market situation in his opening speech.
The instability and challenges of the market. Proning pointed out that during the period of June to July this year, there was a decline in the market, a decrease in orders, and even some transactions were cancelled when they were about to be completed. He stated that although enterprises need to expand investment plans, improve production volume and technological quality, they are facing the dilemma of unstable demand and increased costs. In addition, the credit policies of the central bank have also limited financing capabilities, resulting in a shortage of operating funds for enterprises. In this situation, although the development conditions and demand for Russia's domestic machinery manufacturing industry exist, the economic environment has not provided sufficient support. Despite this, the exhibition forum showcased some highlights of Russian made machinery. Compared to similar events held in Tver Oblast and Sochi last year, Russian made equipment dominated the "2024 Road" exhibition, with almost no participation from Chinese manufacturers. The attendees were pleased and believed that Russian made equipment has already gained a high level of competitiveness, and may no longer rely excessively on China's help in the future. Although the quality and safety issues of Chinese equipment were mentioned at the meeting, the focus is still on improving the standardization of Russian made machinery. For example, Stanislav Chertorizhsky, the relevant person in charge of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, mentioned that in order to prevent problems caused by loopholes in technical regulations, there are plans to revise the technical regulations of the Customs Union and implement stricter certification systems, thereby reducing the proportion of equipment in the market that does not meet standards.
In his speech, George Goncharov, representative of the Russian Highway Agency, mentioned that in recent years, Russia has completed multiple large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the M-12 highway and the Crimean Bridge, driven by orders and the rise of domestically produced machinery in Russia. Data shows that over 50% of the equipment used by large contractors is Russian made, with high demand including bulldozers, graders, and excavator loaders. Especially the production growth of crawler cranes and mobile asphalt mixing stations in Russia is particularly significant. He also mentioned that the entire domestically produced construction production line has shown initial results. For example, in the reconstruction of a section of the M-7 "Volga" highway in 2023, all equipment will be Russian made, including asphalt mixing stations, trucks, and paving machinery. However, the import substitution of some equipment types such as milling machines, recycling machines, and transfer machines is still insufficient. He suggested considering using reverse engineering technology to accelerate the Russian production process for these devices, otherwise there may be a risk of being completely occupied by Chinese manufacturers in the market. The participants of the forum on the importance of government support generally believe that without government support, the development of domestically produced machinery in Russia will be very difficult. Alexei Amelioshin, the chairman of the Road Association Users' Federation, emphasized that Russia has relied heavily on foreign countries in its past economic policies, and now needs to rebuild its domestic machinery manufacturing industry in an accelerated manner. This requires the country to take proactive actions in terms of regulations and financial support. For example, he pointed out that by using financial support measures reasonably, the production capacity of bulldozers, excavators, and loaders can be quickly increased, while producing equipment such as asphalt pavers requires more time. However, simply increasing production capacity is not enough. Due to the almost complete dependence of road construction projects on national orders, the payment ability of contractors also needs to be improved synchronously. This means that support measures should not only target machinery manufacturers, but also benefit contractors. Measures can include loan interest rate subsidies, preferential leasing policies, and tax incentives.
Ameliosin proposed that the development of domestic machinery manufacturing requires both tactical and strategic measures. At the tactical level, this includes directly supporting production enterprises, providing long-term loan subsidies, and tax exemptions. At the strategic level, the country needs to avoid cyclical fluctuations in industry development through long-term planning. Finally, he quoted classic speeches from the Soviet era and called for pride in the achievements of Russian made machinery one day in the future. He concluded that the current demand for imported equipment in the Russian market is only concentrated on types that cannot be produced domestically, while the variety of domestically produced machinery in Russia has significantly increased. The key to achieving sustainable development in the industry is to clarify the national budget and construction direction, otherwise contractors and manufacturers will not be able to develop long-term plans.