'Russian Shelf' bill might be submitted to State Duma this fall - Minister of Industry and Trade

MOSCOW. June 11 (Interfax) - A bill on the prioritization of domestic goods on trading platforms (the so-called "Russian Shelf") may be submitted to the State Duma for consideration in the fall, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov said in an interview published on Tuesday in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

"There is a chance that the bill [on the "Russian Shelf") will be submitted to the State Duma in the autumn session. The authorities support it; the exact parameters are still being worked out. It is planned to test the quota mechanism on those categories of consumer goods where we already have significant production opportunities, such as, first of all, household cleaning products, cosmetics, perfumes, and hygiene products," Alikhanov said.

"There is no goal to completely abandon imports in these categories," he said.

"We will be careful to ensure that production volumes exceed the quota volumes that we plan to set for specific product items. Let's see how the 'Russian shelf' idea works in this sector and evaluate the feasibility of extending the mechanism to other groups of goods," the Minister of Industry and Trade said.

"We are able to produce a huge range of non-food consumer goods and do it very well, while in many industries there are significant reserves of capacity," he said. "In the perfumery and cosmetics industry and with household chemicals, capacity underutilization varies from 40% to 60%," Alikhanov said.

"According to VTsIOM, the majority of Russians either continue to buy Russian-made goods, as before, or have begun to do so more often. The survey results also indicate the high availability of Russian goods on store shelves. It is important that more than half of those surveyed would like to see a range of domestic goods, so the demand for the 'Russian shelf' is generated by both producers and consumers," the Minister said.