BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/31
Russia’s building-materials industry, as well as the pulp and paper industry, was in a slump. Even the long-booming rubber and plastics industry has fallen.
Despite a sharp reduction in sales of domestic processed foods, food industry production has enjoyed mild growth this year as food imports have declined precipitously. Exports of oil products grew sharply in the first half of the year, but output growth came to a halt due to the domestic recession. Growth in the chemical industry recovered on higher exports this year. Moreover, output of “other chemical products” rose to a boom in the first half. Some observers say this could reflect an increase in the production of explosives (defence spending was up nearly 40 % y-o-y in the first half of 2015).
Output in major manufacturing branches
Source: Rosstat