Russian ports of the Baltic Sea require modernization
The development of port infrastructure for transshipment of liquid chemical cargo in Ust-Luga, Kingisepp and St. Petersburg will allow to increase the export potential of the Russian chemical industry.
Oleg Mamaev, General Director of "Metafrax-Trading" LLC, took part in the round table activities on the topic of "Development of export potential of the Perm region". The dialogue was held on the site of "Kommersant-Prikamye" newspaper in Perm and was attended by representatives of Perm region government, the Perm customs, the Perm chamber of Commerce and industry, heads of industrial enterprises, heads of small and medium-sized businesses as well as experts such as academic economists and lawyers.
At the end of 2018, the Perm region entered the top 15 regions of the country in terms of exports and took the 11th place. The scope of export from the Perm region for 8 months of 2019 amounted to 3,49 billion dollars. This is 6,37% more than the amount from the same period of 2018.
Representatives of the Ministry of economic development and Ministry of industry, entrepreneurship and trade of Perm region have spoken about the progress of implementation of the national project "International cooperation and export" in the Kama region. They have also spoken about regional projects and development programs for IT industry, higher education and tourism as well as existing support tools for industrial export and the results of the interregional export forum which was held in October of 2019 in Perm.
In his speech, Oleg Mamaev drew attention of the companies that are beginning to export to the necessity of careful planning of any export operations, taking into account various nuances, for example, ones related to the use of reserve currency or the process of customs clearance for goods. As for the proposals to the public authorities, he focused on the tasks for transport infrastructure development.
"Right now, the active development of modern ports in the Leningrad region has begun - Ust-Luga, Kingisepp, the oil terminal in Saint Petersburg. However, the lack of port infrastructure for transshipment of liquid chemical cargo still forces Russian manufacturers to rely of services of Finnish ports. And this leads to the increase in the tank turnover as well as increase in expenses and time for transportation. The creation of domestic port infrastructure would allow to significantly increase the competitiveness of Russian chemical products and create new workplaces", - Oleg Mamaev emphasised.
General Director of "Metafrax-Trading" LLC has also urged the entrepreneurs to develop a thought-out strategy for both domestic and foreign market presence.
"We should not be fixated on export only. Russian market has great capacity; you can invest into and develop our domestic consumers. This market will always support you in case of difficulties with export", - Oleg Mamaev noted.
As a reminder, the geography of "Metafrax Group" supply includes more than 1000 consumers of chemical products from the UK, Finland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Australia and more than 50 countries additionally. In 2018, almost 45% of the revenue was generated from exports of methanol and its derivatives.