Great Opportunities to Dig into Russian Fastener Market in New Putin Era

After Vladimir Putin won the election of the sixth President of Russia, the “new Putin era” has begun. Accordingly, Russia’s GDP went up 4.1% in 2011 and many infrastructure categories haven been launched in succession, such as the Moscow-Saint Petersburg high speed railway and venues for 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 FIFA World Cup, bringing great business opportunities to investors and manufacturers.

The coming of new Putin era greatly benefits the fastener industry. In addition, Russia is expected to lower tariffs after it entered WTO last year and the trade system transparency would be enhanced, allowing fastener companies to take the opportunities to enter the Russian market.    
 
According to the Russian industry insiders, the government of Russia is upgrading its fastener product in terms of its variety and quality. To increase the variety of fasteners in Russia, the Russian fastener companies are making an effort to enhance the executive capability. It is reported that the top Russian automotive fastener manufacturer BelZAN has supplied fasteners to the road construction sector since 2009 and plans to enter the wind power equipment sector to broaden the variety of fasteners. Likewise, the Severstal-Metiz Group has acquired the certification of the high strength fasteners for bridge construction use. Many fastener manufacturers also plan to purchase machinery and equipment and expand their factories.

Moreover, Russia proactively establishes different fastener standards to elevate the product quality and industry competitiveness. Russia previously issued a standard of the high strength fasteners for bridge construction use in January 2011 and Russia’s Association of Wood Housing published a new standard for the fastening design of the bolts and externally threaded bolts for wood housing in July 2011, including “Fastening Requirements and Test Methods for Nails, Bolts and Externally Threaded Bolts” and “Wood Fastening Design for Threaded Fasteners for Wood Housing”. In 2012, RosMetiz Association has published the standard STO PM 1-1.003-2011, defining the requirements for threading of nuts with internal diameters up to and including M16, of strength Class 8.