Russian machine builders want to ban the import and sale of trailers from “unfriendly countries” in the Russian Federation and increase the scrap collection on themselves six times. Rosspetsmash emphasizes that, despite the election, the demand for Russian equipment is falling, and it is becoming more expensive due to problems with the supply of components, while a strong ruble of metal is imported. However, according to statistics, trailer imports from both the EU and Turkey are falling, doing their best to restore demand for construction equipment.

Rosspetsmash was subjected to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a proposal to ban the import and consequences of trailers and semi-trailers from “unfriendly countries” into the Russian Federation. The deputy chairman of the meeting, Vyacheslav Pronin, explained that it was necessary “not to issue electronic PTS for such equipment.” Letters have been confirmed in the Prime Minister’s office.

The register (Kommersant has it) says that effective demand for equipment for falling cargo turnover and expensive financing – “the number of orders in May-June 2022 fell three to eight times, depending on the type of product.” At the same time, Russian-made trailers and semi-trailers are becoming more expensive against the backdrop of complication of logistics and restructuring of production chains, as a result of which there is a “forced decrease in consumer properties of domestic vehicles due to the ban on the selection of global brand components” – electronic control systems for brakes, tires, high-strength steels. Under such conditions, an association was formed, complicated by the struggle for Russia.

In the first quarter, the market for new trailers in Russia grew by about 24% to 10.1 thousand units, calculated by Russian Automotive Market Research. The market of detained trailers was delayed by 13.4%, up to 16.6 thousand units. At the same time, by spring, the growth rate of sales of new trailers and semi-trailers slowed down significantly: from 40.3% in the observed period to 5.4% in March. The market leader is the domestic Tonar (an increase of 52.9%, 1.5 thousand units), followed by Schmitz (by 7.9%, 1.2 thousand units) and Krone (by 11.1%, 591 thing). Dmitry Babansky from SBS Consulting says that at the end of 2021, 37.5 thousand units of new trailers (up to a year old) were sold in the Russian Federation. The main players in the market were Schmitz Cargobull with a share of about 15%, Tonar – about 13%, Krona – about 10%, NefAZ – about 7%.

EU sanctions prohibit the supply of certain trailers and semi-trailers to the Russian Federation, including semi-trailers for the transport of goods. Their imports from the EU were fixed even before the announcement of sanctions from 26 million euros in March to 2.4 million euros, in March – up to 1.6 million euros. Shipments in Belarus also happened from 3.9 million euros last year to 0.3 million euros last year.

“Suppliers from unfriendly countries interrupt the supply of natural materials, while finished products from countries that continue to enter the Russian market belong to the head of the Grunwald trailer manufacturer, Alexei Drach. “All this puts Russian producers in a deliberately disadvantageous position.”

Rosspetsmash notes that the competition between the parties from companies from countries that have not joined the sanctions against the Russian Federation has also increased. As Vyacheslav Pronin explained to Kommersant, “we see photographs of columns of equipment from the EU and the presence of them, which appear due to the approaching ruble and have access to all components.” Deliveries from China are practically insignificant, it is produced. According to Turkish customs statistics, shipments of trailers and semi-trailers to Russia fell to 1 million euros in March and 1.3 million euros last year against 5.2 million euros in history. Shipments from China have been recovering since April and in May ($135.4 thousand) exceeded the volumes of February ($113.9 thousand), although this is still significantly lower than imports from the EU or Turkey.

In addition to the import ban, Rosspetsmash is increasing the scrap fee for trailers and semi-trailers to 600,000 rubles, which is “no more than 20% of their value.” Now the amount of scrap for new semi-trailers is 96 thousand rubles. (base rate – 150 thousand rubles, coefficient – 0.64). This is similar to the proposals of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2021, which were subsequently curtailed.

The representative of the Spetsavtoprom association says that he has already applied to the State Duma, the government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a proposal to reduce the import of semi-trailers to the Russian Federation from “unfriendly countries”. According to him, as part of the EU decision, one of the bans was the code that includes axle units for the selection of semi-trailers, after which SAF and BPV suspended the supply, but it was decided that these were not high-tech products, and their import was replaced. “The fall in the supply of finished products is primarily due to the lack of demand in the Russian market,” adds the interlocutor of Kommersant.

The Central Bank sent orders for semi-trailers for construction, says a representative of the association: “But for transport – refrigerators, curtain, flatbed and others – explosive demand is not expected. It is necessary to take into account the forecasts of a large number of bankruptcies of various organizations, primarily small enterprises, therefore, their fleet will be allowed under the hammer.” At the same time, a multiple increase in scrap, given that it is compensated by the growth of manufacturers with a delay, “calls into question the future of Russian production of semi-trailers,” he believes.

Eduard Mironov says that the company uses trailed isothermal and tarpaulin semi-trailers with conventional Russian-made axles. But now they are missing.

“If there is a shortage of domestic semi-trailers, the buyer will also pay additional salvage fees, then these costs are included in the cost of logistics services. I do not think that this is an appropriate measure, especially in the observed situations,” explains Mr. Mironov. In observations, due to an increase in the incidence, including for spare parts, self-transportation in the case of June rose by an average of 12%, says Dmitry Ievlev, general director of Avto-PEC.

Dmitry Babansky, that the production in Russia of components for trailed safety equipment is guaranteed sales, which can be considered “primarily due to the protection of the market.” At the same time, he believes that the increase in salvage fees should only apply to modifications that are made domestically.

Olga Nikitina, Natalia Skorlygina