Import substitution in Russia: current state and prospects

Abstract

Import substitution is a process of gradual displacement of foreign goods in the domestic market by analogues of domestic production. In Russia, the need to accelerate the development of national production of agricultural raw materials and food products has been discussed since the beginning of the second decade of this century, since the increasing share of foreign goods in the national consumption of products on the domestic market has become a signal of a violation of the country’s food security indicators. The State authorities made the appropriate necessary decisions, which were implemented. This issue became particularly relevant after 2014, when Russia suddenly faced sanctions against it from the United States and its NATO allies. This led to the adoption of the counter-embargo, stimulated the development and implementation of additional eff orts to develop import substitution in our country. In a fairly short period of time, our country has achieved very signifi cant results in increasing its independence from imports, primarily in the food market, in particular in eliminating the shortage of meat and dairy products. The domestic market has become fully secured due to the national production of poultry, pork, many types of vegetables, and confectionery. The national production of beef and dairy products has expanded. This made it possible to signifi cantly reduce the import supply of such goods. The authors consider and analyze the current trends and features of this process. For a number of food products, Russia has become a major exporter on the world market, capturing major positions in the world market of wheat, sunflower oil, fats, a number of other food products, as well as fertilizers. The demand for Russian food products on a large scale is presented by China, the countries of the Middle East, and North Africa. Nevertheless, there are still unresolved problems in the country, which the authors point out. In particular, it is necessary to make eff orts to reduce import supplies of seeds, seedlings, breeding cattle, highly specialized agricultural machines, food equipment, to expand the development or purchase of technologies for processing agricultural products, the production of food additives and other imported components for the processing industry. Of course, there will remain some types of tropical agriculture, which the country will continue to import, since it is impractical to develop their production in Russia for climatic reasons.