Trading with Russia

Russia in not an easy market for beginners. The Russian business environment is hindered by organized crime and bribery problem.

Financial resources of Russian buyers may have doubtful origins.

Moreover, if playing on the Russian arena doing business with domestic companies, companies should carefully check their creditworthiness.

However, high risks remain in Russia and they have to be carefully taken into consideration when planning to operate a business there. Smuggling is a major problem in Russia, which is due to the complicated customs procedures.

Market opportunities

The Russian market is far from saturated and offers a huge number of business opportunities.

Russia is an attractive place to many Western European countries as it represents a large potential market and as it owns a lot of natural resources. Russia’s main export products are natural resources and main import products are consumer goods, machinery and food. Russia’s goal is to become the main oil supplier of the USA and of the UE (“Christian oil”).

Russia is becoming more and more attractive as it has signed many agreements, especially with the E.U., aiming to improve its economic situation and develop its trade exchange.

The country has entered the World Trade Organization (completed in 2012, after... 18 years of negotiation!), giving positive prospects for the future.

Which markets to target?

The Russian population is spread over 11 time zones. It is important not to underestimate the size of Russia when planning to business in the country.

The fact that almost two third of the Russian population lives in big cities that are far away from each other and surrounded by vast and little populated areas, often with poor transportation connections between the cities, makes an extensive distribution in Russia challenging. For an entry into the Russian market, it is preferable to focus on the bigger cities because an extensive distribution all over the country would be expensive and not profitable The rural areas are very low populated. The biggest markets are constituted by the biggest cities. In Moscow for example, there is three times more home computers than the national average. The wages are higher, but there are also more competitors and the costs of running a business are higher.

 

Other useful sections of the website

Business and trade in Russia

Trade fairs in Russia

Economic sectors

 

To go further

General resources

globaltrade.net... - Export to Russia, from Globaltrade.net

fita.org... - Data and statistics for the Russian market, from the FITA

export.gov/russia/ - US Commercial service in Russia

intracen.org/country/russian-federation/ - Russian market info, from the International Trade Center

 

Customs regulations & Import-Export

wto.org... - Russia and the WTO

 

Business opportunities

dgmarket.com/... - Tenders in Russia, from DG Market