Despite increasing economic pressure, enterprises in the Southern Urals continue to supply their products to every second country in the world. Since the beginning of the year, the number of export-oriented companies has grown by 161 and exceeded 2.5 thousand, Governor Alexey Teksler noted at the award ceremony for the winners of the All-Russian competition “Exporter of the Year” in the Urals Federal District. Moreover, this is facilitated not only by the convenient location of the region, but also by the situation itself, which forces businesses to look for new partners and markets.
- Today, the most important export directions are developing through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China and Iran to India with subsequent access to the World Ocean. In economic terms, these regions are more attractive than Europe, where there is currently a recession and inflation is quite high. We need to further strengthen cooperation with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. And South Ural companies are already supplying products and technologies there. For example, recently a batch of fire trucks produced at the Ural automobile plant in Miass was sent to Cuba,” said Governor Alexey Teksler.
It is worth noting that for the majority of Chelyabinsk enterprises, the main directions of foreign economic activity have traditionally remained the friendly states of the south-eastern region. Exports to Europe did not exceed 20 percent in the best years. Therefore, the authorities attach key importance to the development of the eastern branch of the North-South transport corridor.
Until recently, exporters used the western branch - the sea route through the Caspian Sea. With the opening of the Yuzhnouralsky transport and logistics center, an alternative appeared - cargo delivery by rail. As Valery Denisenko, director of the Chelyabinsk Region International Cooperation Agency, explained, container trains are already departing along the new route. Their launch was preceded by global work: coordination of their passage with the Kazakh and Turkmen sides, allocation of quotas for the rapid movement of goods, in which the government and the governor of the Chelyabinsk region took part. The development of this direction in the future is associated not only with Ural products, but also with popular exports from the regions of Siberia and the Far East.
The dry port's congestion is increasing. Two weeks ago, as part of the agreement that the regional government signed with FESCO at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the first Chelyabinsk shuttle was launched to Vladivostok. It directly connected the Yuzhnouralsky TLC with the Vladivostok sea trade port. It is important that customs clearance of goods will take place directly in the Chelyabinsk region, so that they can then continue non-stop along the sea route to China and Korea.
A unified development institute has been formed in the region, providing companies with up to 70 different services in promoting products to foreign markets
According to the authorities, the development of transport corridors is a good incentive for the growth of foreign trade activity. In turn, a unified development institute has been formed in the region, providing export-oriented companies with up to 70 different services in promoting products to foreign markets. Starting from the acceleration of newcomers to the organization of exhibition activities, assistance in entering foreign marketplaces, translating websites, catalogs, booklets, searching for potential buyers abroad and delivering goods to the borders of the Russian Federation. During business missions, promotion problems are resolved at the government level, which makes it possible to remove administrative barriers. For example, a well-known South Ural cereal manufacturer began supplying its products to a large retail chain of Uzbekistan exclusively through the mediation of the authorities - after negotiations organized during a visit to the country by a delegation from the Chelyabinsk region.
“Since last year, with the support of the governor, another powerful promotion tool has been launched - regional exhibition pavilions in the countries of presence,” adds Valery Denisenko. - One of them now works in Minsk, where the region is represented by 26 enterprises, the other in Tashkent - with expositions of 16 companies. For three months, each of them receives exhibition space, promotion on the Internet and in the media, marketing, assistance in negotiations, trips to exhibitions in the country and contract support. All expenses are covered by the budget. Participants only need to submit samples of their products.
Export works not only for recognition and promotion of the region, but also brings tangible returns: every ruble of state support helps Chelyabinsk business earn up to 84 rubles, of which seven are returned to the treasury as taxes. For the budget this is an effective investment of funds, for enterprises it is an opportunity to develop production and create new jobs.
And, although the structure of exports in the industrial region has remained virtually unchanged over the years - 86 percent of supplies are metal and metal products, the number of participants in foreign economic activity is growing due to hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises sending their own high-value products to foreign markets. Today, no less attention is paid to promoting the products of the agro-industrial complex, mechanical engineering and other knowledge-intensive industries.
It is no coincidence that among the winners of this year were such well-known enterprises in Chelyabinsk as the Ural Metallurgical Company, which exports its universal packaging tape to almost all continents, and the small enterprise "Ura Confectioners" (IP Timur Valeev), which sells sweets to 18 countries of the world. They prove by their example that any quality product can be supplied abroad.
“Next year, assistance to exporters will only increase, so I set all our enterprises the task of conquering new markets, and we will help them with this,” promised Alexey Teksler. - This is very important: export is not only a serious contribution to economic development, but also one of the main indicators of business success.
Russian newspaper