Moscow’s Expocentr will host Leshrevmash 2016, Russia’s major international show for woodworking machinery and equipment, until 27 October. The Italian Trade Agency in Moscow, ICE, has set up the trade event in collaboration with ACEIMAL (Italian Woodworking Machinery and Tools Manufacturers Association). The Italian pavilion will host 38 firms over a 1031 square metre surface area. Russia is a key market for Italian developers, accounting for a large share of Italian exports in this sector. “In 2015, the Russian Federation imported Italian woodworking machinery and technologies for a value of 93 million euros, up 86.6 percent in one year, according to data released by Russian customs, ” pointed out an ICE communique. The trend recorded in 2015 thus confirms Italy’s improved placement among Russia’s suppliers of woodworking technology. Except for a brief period of time, following the 1998 crisis, Russia’s production of woodworking machinery has never met the quantitative, technological and qualitative needs of an industry which is potentially one of the largest in the world (Russia owns over one-fifth of the planet’s forest resources). Imports account for 90-92 percent of this sector, with Germany, Italy and China being Russia’s major suppliers. According to data published in the first seven months of 2016, a drastic change seems to have occurred.
Rosstat data show that Russia’s imports of woodworking machinery have stagnated at 23 million euros, a 68.4 percent drop from the same time in 2015. The drop can be ascribed mainly to the harsh economic crisis, which impacted also the Russian Federation’s commercial relations with foreign countries. Italy has lost its lead and is now trailing Germany, but is still ahead of China.