First deputy PM suggests Industry and Trade Ministry consider banning imports of equipment when domestic alternatives available

MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - Russian authorities may prohibit domestic companies from purchasing imported equipment if there are Russian-made equivalents available, the government press service said.

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov made the proposal following a meeting on developing the machine-tool industry.

Russia has launched a national project, Production Means and Automation, which includes a federal project aimed at developing the machine-tool industry, Manturov said. The funding for the national project in 2025 will amount to 52 billion rubles, and "the key issue right now is prompt contracting," he said.

"Customers need to proactively form technical specifications, ensure technical support for contracts, and give unconditional priority to Russian machines in purchases. Unfortunately, there are still many cases of equipment being imported despite the availability of domestic equivalents on the market. Anton Andreyevich [Alikhanov, the industry and trade minister], I believe we need to legally prohibit the purchase of foreign equipment when domestic options are available," the press service quoted Manturov as saying.

Certain types of machinery and tools have already been included in the list of foreign products whose purchase for state needs is forbidden when Russian alternatives are available. These are regulated by government resolution no. 616. Specifically, this concerns machine tools for metalworking, turning machines, laser metal processing machines, stone and wood processing machines, hand tools and others.

However, even with the ban in place, there are cases of it being bypassed under the pretext of minor technical differences between domestic and foreign equipment in terms of their production process characteristics, Manturov said. In these cases, it is also necessary to ensure the priority of Russian equipment, he said. "We must maintain the pace of increasing production, and for that we need to expand the product range so that no one can claim that 'the spindle works at a different speed,'" he said.

When tightening restrictions on the purchase of imported equipment, it is necessary "to simultaneously work on the service system, the improvement system, and the technological leadership of the products we manufacture," Alikhanov said at the meeting. "The task is not just to cover the component base position by position, thus formally achieving the 95% independence indicator, but to interact with industry customers and scientific institutes to improve technical characteristics," he said. The Industry and Trade Ministry will also work on "maximizing the reduction in the cost of manufacturing components through their standardization."

Machine tool production in Russia increased 40% in value terms in 2024, while tool production rose by more than 10%. A significant portion of production capacity utilization was ensured by orders from the defense industry.

"The peak of the defense industry's modernization program has already passed, and the impact of this factor will gradually decrease," Manturov was quoted as saying.