Russian jewelers predict collapse of the industry

The director of a professional association contacted the editorial office of Business FM. According to her, the upcoming zeroing of duties on jewelry products from the United Arab Emirates will call into question the production of jewelry in Russia

On June 27, agreements on the creation of free trade zones with the Emirates were signed at the EAEU summit in Minsk. After their ratification and entry into force, duties on 85% of the product range, including jewelry from the UAE, will be zeroed. But that's not the worst of it. The problem is that Dubai is a major international hub, and through it, products from Indian and Chinese jewelers can enter our market. There are such concerns, and they are justified: according to market participants, there is virtually no control over the origin of products in the Emirates.

If events develop in this way, domestic manufacturers will not be able to withstand the competition. This was stated to Business FM by the director of the association "Club "Russian Jewelry Trade" Tatyana Budnaya:

Tatyana Budnaya, Director of the Association “Russian Jewelry Trade Club” ——

Currently, the import duty on jewelry is set at 10%, and this helps Russian jewelers survive. Vladimir Zboikov, executive director of the Russian Jewelers Guild, talks about how this production is organized:

Vladimir Zboykov, executive director of the Guild of Jewelers of Russia

The jewelry industry in Russia suffered greatly from sanctions, since domestic manufacturers bought equipment and a significant portion of processed precious stones abroad. Then they were hit by the introduction of mandatory product labeling and the ban on the simplified taxation system in the industry. About a third of small jewelry enterprises did not survive the abolition of the simplified taxation system. Now, to all this, there is the zeroing of duties on jewelry from the Emirates.

The production of products from precious metals and stones can hardly be called a strategic sector of the Russian economy. But it is quite large, and employs quite a large number of Russians. And today it really needs support. Says Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-analytics:

Mikhail Burmistrov , CEO of Infoline-analytics —

In early June, the Ministry of Finance announced that it was working on creating mechanisms to protect the domestic jewelry market. They will be adopted before the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between the EAEU countries and the Emirates.