100 million tons of products and technological leadership: the results and prospects in the basic industry sectors discussed at the RUSSIA EXPO

At the RUSSIA EXPO, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation held a plenary session "Technologies of New Materials and Substances. Flagships of Basic Sector". The participants of the event discussed challenges and trends in the development of the industry, as well as successes on the way to industrial sovereignty. Thus, over 20 years, hundreds of production facilities have been modernized and built from scratch, and the combined output of the chemical and metallurgical industry has exceeded 100 million tons.

"Since 2000, more than 700 chemical production facilities have been modernized or built from scratch, the output of chemical products has doubled, and the output of chemical products has more than quadrupled. In the metallurgical sector, output has grown by more than a quarter over the past 20 years: to 74 million tons of steel per year. Thus, the combined output of the chemical and metallurgical sectors exceeded 100 million tons. The contribution to the welfare and development of the country's economy can also be assessed by the per capita consumption of polymers. Over the past two decades it has increased by 5.5 times. This is a really significant achievement. We have also implemented major projects in the aluminum industry - now the market consumption of our own aluminum products reaches about 98%. That is, we fully cover all the needs in metal products," said Mikhail Yurin, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

According to Irina Kazovskaya, chairman of the Association of Aluminum Producers, Suppliers and Consumers (Aluminum Association), the industry's drivers are construction, energy, consumer goods and transport.

"The points of growth are the development of domestic demand, new capacities, high-tech exports and the creation of new products. This will be facilitated by the implementation of regional programs for the use of high-tech structures and products made of aluminum and aluminum-based alloys in various areas in accordance with the Government's plan adopted in May 2023," Irina Kazovskaya, Chairman of the Association of Aluminum Producers, Suppliers and Consumers, outlined the industry's prospects.

Alexey Sentyurin, Executive Director of the Russian Steel Association, said that since 2000, labor productivity in the ferrous metallurgy industry has increased 3.5 times: from 66 to 229 tons per employee. At the same time, according to the association's estimates, tax payments of ferrous metallurgy enterprises to the federal and regional budgets have increased 25 times during this time.

Nikita Ryblenkov, CEO of Novostal-M, emphasized the need for innovation in the production of any type of product.

"It may seem that there are no new things to be invented in fittings. But even without changing the equipment, only due to the intelligence of our employees, we have developed a new type of especially strong rebar A550SK, which allows us to save billions of rubles simply because less amount of rebar is needed at the construction site," said Nikita Ryblenkov, CEO of Novostal-M.

He also noted the special importance of cooperation between different production companies.

"Why, when working out business ideas, do they always study competitors, but do not study partners? Today, about 80% of states remain neutral or friendly for Russia, for example, we export products to 50 countries," he said. Russian basic industries and the economy as a whole should remain global, says Nikita Ryblenkov.

The chemical industry has also made serious progress: according to Daria Borisova, Member of the Management Board and Managing Director of SIBUR LLC, over the last 10 years Russia has created a solid foundation for the development of basic and specialty chemicals. The next goal is to continue creating large-tonnage competitive production facilities along with the development of refining, medium- and low-tonnage chemistry.

Today, all flagship enterprises of the chemical industry are focused on the development of import-substituting projects. For example, Titan Group currently has seven such projects, said Mikhail Sutyaginsky, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"This year we will create three pilot production facilities, we plan to launch polyisobutylene production. Moreover, this March we are opening a center in Moscow for the production of domestic microfluidic equipment, which will make it possible to create high-tech products for medicine, pharmaceuticals, chemical industry and other spheres," said Mikhail Sutyaginsky, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Titan Group.

Anna Nenakhova, CEO of Uralchem Innovations, also gave an example of successful projects in the chemical industry.

"Uralchem Innovation independently and in partnership with scientists from various institutes and universities, such as MSU, RCTU and others, develops modern technological solutions that are on par with the best foreign developments and serve the purpose of import substitution. Among the interesting recent developments are various additives to fertilizers (trace elements, anti-caking agents). Russia has historically formed and is developing a quality framework for the creation of advanced technologies and new, competitive products based on them," emphasized Anna Nenakhova, CEO of Uralchem Innovations.

Since the beginning of the 2010s, Russia has been systematically moving towards the achievement of technological sovereignty in the segment of composites, the Director General of the Composite Division of the Rosatom State Corporation Alexander Tyunin reported. According to his data, for the last five years the market of the Russian carbon fiber has grown three times, more than 90% of the carbon composites used in the production are domestic.

"The key drivers of composites application are compliance with the world trends, development of traditional industries-consumers and overcoming of the price barrier due to the development of new technologies. All technologies in key materials are created in Russian research centers. For example, in the design of the flagship of the Russian aviation - MC-21 - all carbon composites are produced domestically," commented on the progress of the industry Alexander Tyunin, Director General of the Composite Division of the Rosatom State Corporation.

The International RUSSIA EXPO is the most important achievements of the country gathered in one place. Throughout the entire time of the Exposition, guests can look forward to cultural events, a rich business and educational program. The expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations are presented to the visitors.