| Jewelers ask for protection from law enforcement agencies Production in the Russian jewelry industry will increase by 30% compared to last year. This forecast was made yesterday by the head of the Supreme Council of the Guild of Jewelers of Russia, Alexander Ivanyuk, at the largest industry exhibition in the CIS, Jeweler-2004, which opened in Moscow. However, in the future, without government support, the prospects for domestic jewelry, especially against the backdrop of Russia’s upcoming accession to the WTO, may change. In the meantime, as Mr. Ivanyuk said yesterday, “the state is only contributing to the difficulties” of Russian jewelers.
The volume of jewelry production has been continuously growing since 1999. At the end of last year, experts expected the market situation to stabilize and even predicted a decline in production, but the industry showed 30 percent growth. If in 2002 the Assay Chamber of the Russian Federation “stamped” 42 tons of gold products, 50 tons of silver and 109 kg of platinum (including imports), then in 2003 these figures were 55 tons, 60 tons and 160 kg, respectively. . The growth in the production of gold and silver jewelry continued in the first half of this year (30 and 44 tons in six months), but at the same time the weight of platinum jewelry decreased significantly - only 55 kg. According to the forecasts voiced by Mr. Ivanyuk, in general, at the end of 2004, the production of jewelry using gold will increase (relative to 2003) by 26--27%, using silver - by 32--34%, using platinum - by 40%.
Despite the stable dynamics, there are still many unresolved problems in the industry, which jewelers did not miss the opportunity to remind about yesterday. The main difficulties, according to Mr. Ivanyuk, are associated with Russia's upcoming accession to the WTO. In this case, he believes, the domestic manufacturer will not be able to compete on equal terms with Western manufacturers, the influx of products from which will increase. In addition to Europe, “in the jewelry industry of which there is now a crisis and prices are almost close to cost,” Mr. Ivanyuk pointed out India and neighboring China, which has taken first place in jewelry production, as its main competitors.
The problem of the influx of imported products has long been discussed in jewelry circles. As Floon Gumerov, the president of the largest player in the Russian jewelry market, the Almaz-Holding company, previously noted, domestic jewelry today, even with current growth rates, is losing to imports, the volume of which has recently increased two to three times. In the North-Western District, the largest jewelry market in Russia, the share of foreign products in the total mass of products is already about 30%. With the opening of trade borders, this ratio will change not in our favor, especially since Russian products are inferior to Indian or Chinese ones in terms of price-quality ratio (and many other factors - such as the absence in Russia of modern schools of design, equipment production, etc. ). In these conditions, jewelers believe, the industry cannot survive without government support.
However, for now, Mr. Ivanyuk says, the state is only creating additional difficulties for the industry. As an example, he cited the adopted law on the temporary import and export of jewelry, thanks to which “the smuggling of jewelry has become practically legal.” Mr. Ivanyuk places his hope for solving this problem on law enforcement agencies, which, according to him, can “squeeze out smuggled” foreign products and provide conditions for the development of the jewelry industry. Yana GODOVANAYA |
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