18.04.2016 - IKEA Russian localization at 60% and growing

According to Russia Today, Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has increased local production in Russia, from about 50 percent two years ago. The company also wants to export more Russia-made production.

"About 60 percent of products on sale are made in Russia. This share has been increasing gradually, year after year. Two years ago, the localization was about 50 percent", a spokesman for IKEA told TASS on Wednesday.

The company owns four factories in Russia in the Moscow, Leningrad, Novgorod and Kirov regions. IKEA is building another factory in the Novgorod region. The furniture retailer is spending $50 million on the factory which it plans to open next year.

The spokesman added that IKEA is working with about 60 local suppliers from different regions in Russia, and this number will only grow.

The first IKEA store opened in Russia in 2000. But as early as in the 1990s, the company opened an office in Russia to buy local production and sell it abroad.

“Our supply chain is organized in such a way that the territorial procurement offices are purchasing products for subsequent sale in all countries with IKEA stores,” said the company’s spokesman.

In spring 2015, IKEA confirmed plans to invest an additional $2 billion in Russia by 2020. The company said Russia has one of the biggest potentials for development.

The next IKEA store in Russia is planned to open in 2018 in Mytishchi in the Moscow Region. The retailer now has 14 stores in the country.

Unlike other Western manufacturers in Russia who were hit by the ruble depreciation and weaker consumer demand, IKEA’s sales in the country grew 14.7 percent last financial year ending August 31, the company reported without specifying its total Russian earnings.

Source: www.rt.com

25.03.2016 - AstraZeneca started commercial production in Russia

According to TASS, AstraZeneca, British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company, started commercial production at its first plant in Russia in Vorsino Industrial Park, Kaluga Oblast.

Today is the launch of the first phase, including packaging and quality control. The plant is planned to start full-cycle production from dosage form development to packaging in 2017.

Source: www.tass.ru/en

20.03.2016 - Zara considers moving manufacturing operations to Russia

Global clothes retailer Zara, which is part of the Inditex Group, is considering moving its production to Russia, the TASS news agency reported on March 15. Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade has made an offer to the Spanish company in the hopes of developing cooperation. Zara operates more than 2,000 stores worldwide and has manufacturers in Europe and Asia.

Russian officials have also proposed that major Swedish retailers H&M and IKEA fulfill their production orders at Russian plants. French sportswear retailer Decathlon is also interested in cooperating and is already considering a Russian supplier base, according to Svetlana Romanova, an adviser at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Additionally, according to Romanova many Russian retailers, such as Sela, which makes clothes in China, are interested in working with Russian producers.

Source: www.tass.ru/en