In March 2021, the Russian machine-building industry saw the fifth consecutive month of production growth (+26.2% year-on-year), with growth accelerating notably in March compared to February rates, which is due to a low base effect, as stated in issue 1420 of AK&M Information Agency's monthly paper "RUSSIAN INDUSTRIES: PRODUCTION, FINANCE, SECURITIES. Mechanical Engineering" issued on April 28, 2021.
The observed growth holds steady, its pace being above what could be seen as a simple rebound. This March, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) registered an increase in industrial production in all five machine-building sub-sectors, compared both with the previous month and with the previous year's performance. The highest growth rates were in the production of other vehicles and equipment and motor transport vehicles.
The global car market soared by 52.7% to 8.374 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in March 2021. 20.895 million vehicles were sold worldwide for the first three months of 2021 (+21.9% YoY). China remains the global leader in car sales, with 2.344 million vehicles sold last month (+71% YoY), followed by the U.S. (1.611 million cars, + 63.9% YoY). Car markets in Western Europe increased by 65.5% to 1.457 million cars in March. Car sales in Eastern Europe amounted to 408 thousand units (+26.6% YoY). 211.1 thousand cars were sold in South America (+21.9% YoY). Other large global car markets include Japan, Korea and Canada.
In value terms, exports of mechanical engineering products amounted to $3.301 billion in January-February 2021, while imports reached $30.344 billion, which is 9.2 times higher. Compared with the previous year, exports increased in the segments of passenger cars and trucks in physical terms, with across-the-board growth in value terms. Exports of machine-building products increased substantially in February compared with the January performance. According to preliminary customs data, machine-building products accounted for 53.5% of the total value of imports from non-CIS countries in March 2021. Imports of machine-building products increased by 33.2% to reach $11.699 billion.
In 2020, the number of existing and to-be-created industrial parks in Russia reached 258, according to Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade, with 807 new residents employing more than 9,300 people. Extra-budgetary investments of residents in the launch of new production facilities exceeded RUB 181 billion in 2020. The number of existing and to0-be-created tech parks reached 73 with a total area of more than 1.7 million square meters of prepared sites with adequate municipal, transport and technology infrastructure.
An in-depth review is provided in issue 1420 of AK&M Information Agency's "RUSSIAN INDUSTRIES: PRODUCTION, FINANCE, SECURITIES. Mechanical Engineering" monthly paper issued on April 28, 2021.
