Russian industrial production up 4% in March

26th Apr 2024

The growth of industrial production in Russia in March 2024 amounted to 4.0% year-on-year after an increase of 8.5% in February and 4.6% in January, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported.
In the first quarter of 2024, industrial production in the Russian Federation increased by 5.6% compared to the same period last year.
Industrial data in March 2024 turned out to be slightly worse than economists' expectations. The consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Interfax in early April provided for an increase in industrial production in the Russian Federation in March by 4.9%. The significant slowdown in the annual rate in March compared to February was expected, as the surge in February was largely due to an extra day due to a leap year.
Excluding seasonal and calendar factors in March 2024, according to Rosstat, Russian industry grew by 0.1% after an increase of 1.6% in February and a decrease of 0.2% in January.
In March, growth in the manufacturing industries slowed down to 6.0% year-on-year from 13.5% in February (an increase of 8.8% in the first quarter).
In the mining sector in March, the increase in production slowed to 0.4% from 2.1% in February (an increase of 1.1% in January-March).
In the supply of electricity, gas and steam, and air conditioning, an increase of 4.1% was recorded in March after an increase of 6.4% in February (in the 1st quarter an increase of 5.0%).
In the field of water supply, sanitation, organization of waste collection and disposal, growth in March amounted to 4.6% after an increase of 6.0% in February (for the 1st quarter an increase of 4.7%).
In 2024, economists expect Russian industry to grow by 3.1% (according to the Interfax consensus forecast prepared in early April).
The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation this week slightly lowered its forecast for industrial growth in 2024 to 2.5% from 2.6% in the September version of the forecast, explaining it by a revision of expectations in the production sector. At the same time, the Ministry of Economic Development expects growth in manufacturing industries at 4% in 2024.
Industries that showed significant growth in March compared to March 2023:

production of finished metal products, except machinery and equipment - 33.4%;
production of computers, electronic and optical products - 31.9%;
production of other vehicles and equipment (including aircraft, shipbuilding, etc.) - 32.9%;
production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers - 25.0%;
production of other finished products - 11.0%;
furniture production - 9.3%;
production of electrical equipment - 7.9%;
production of chemicals and chemical products - 7.1%;
production of textiles - 5.8%;
production of leather and leather products - 4.9%;
food production - 4.1%, beverages - 14.0%;
paper production - 6.8%;
production of other non-metallic mineral products (including building materials) - 3.9%;
coal mining - 5.3%;
mining of metal ores - 2.0%.
Industries that have reduced production volumes:
production of tobacco products - by 11.1%;
production of coke and petroleum products - by 6.4%;
metallurgical production - by 5.7%;
extraction of other minerals - by 4.7%;
production of machinery and equipment not included in other groups (including machine tool industry,
production of metallurgical, mining equipment, agricultural machinery, etc.) - by 2.5%;
clothing production - by 1.6%;
production of medicines and materials used for medical purposes - by 0.8%.
Passenger car production increased by 81% in the 1st quarter
Production of passenger cars in the Russian Federation in January-March 2024 increased by 81.3% compared to the same period in 2023, to 161 thousand units; freight - by 29.5%, to 43.4 thousand units.
Such a sharp trend can be explained, among other things, by the effect of last year’s low base: it was reported that the production of passenger cars in the first quarter of 2023 fell by 64.6% y/y, and trucks by 17.6%.
The volume of production in absolute terms for March 2024 is not indicated in Rosstat materials. It is reported that the production of passenger cars jumped by 86.7% by March 2023, and by 9.4% by February 2024. Truck production increased by 0.8% y/y and decreased by 0.4% compared to February.
The production of buses with a permissible maximum weight of more than 5 tons in the first quarter increased by 35.1% and amounted to 3.8 thousand units. In March, output increased by 16.6% y/y and by 5.2% compared to February.
In the first quarter, 53 thousand units of internal combustion engines were produced (+18% y/y). Their production in March increased by 4.4% y/y and by 5.1% compared to February.
Bodies for motor vehicles in January-March produced 10.5 thousand units (+28.8% y/y). The March output volume increased by 17% y/y and by 10.7% compared to February.
Russia increased food production by 4.1% in March
In March of this year, Russia increased food production (excluding beverages) by 4.1% compared to the same month last year; production increased by 6.8% compared to February. In the first quarter, food production increased by 7%.
Beverage industries increased production by 14% in annual terms in March, compared to February - by 9.1%. Over three months the growth was 15.9%.
Production of poultry meat and offal in the first quarter compared to the same period last year decreased by 1%, to 1.3 million tons. Beef, pork, lamb and meat of other animals (chilled) produced 892 thousand tons (3.7% more), sausages - 578 thousand tons (1.4% more), fish products (including crustaceans and mollusks ) - 1.2 million tons (9.7% less).
Over the three months, production of unrefined sunflower oil in annual terms increased by 24.3%, to 2.2 million tons, margarine decreased by 5.7%, to 114 thousand tons.
Dairy processing plants produced 79.8 thousand tons of butter in January-March, which is 4.6% less than a year earlier. Cheese production increased by 9.5%, to 209 thousand tons, cottage cheese - by 9.4%, to 117 thousand tons.
470 million standard cans of juice were produced, which is 1.6 times more than in three months of last year.
Flour millers produced 2.3 million tons of flour in the first quarter (13.4% more). 503 thousand tons of cereals were produced (0.4% more), 1.2 million tons of baked goods were baked (3.2% less).
Sugar production amounted to 744 thousand tons, which is 21.5% less than last year. Confectioners produced 1 million tons of sweets in January-March, which is 8.2% higher than the same period last year.
5 billion bottles (0.5 liters each) of mineral and drinking water were produced, which is 9.4% more than in annual terms. Beer production (excluding brewing waste) amounted to 197 million deciliters (8.6% more).
Rosstat also reported that 46.8 billion cigarettes were produced in three months, which is 9.6% less than a year ago.