Shamil Ageev: 'Tatarstan manages to maintain the leading position not only in the Volga Federal District but also in Russia'
The issues of promoting products of Tatarstan producers to the markets of Russian regions and abroad were discussed in Kazan
In Tatarstan, the representatives of small and medium-sized businesses were offered a new format of preferential lending. The main condition for issuing a loan is that the entrepreneur conducts export activities. The total volume of exports of republican producers exceeded $33 million. What the interest rate on the loan is, as well as what products were most in demand outside the republic were discussed at a briefing on the promotion of products of Tatarstan manufacturers to the markets of Russian regions and abroad. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Main problems
Opening the meeting, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tatarstan Shamil Ageev complained that access to bank loans for businesses in Russia is still significantly limited. Especially if companies are trying to enter foreign markets.
“If there are big benefits in supporting exports in other countries, and we have been doing this in great detail, then we are worse off with this," said Ageev. “Let's say that, for example, Trump sought to have almost negative loans, that is, not at interest. We have normal loans that are almost inaccessible.”
The speaker also noted that in our country it is quite difficult to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, despite that the government actively opposes the existing clerical system: “A very long process of struggle awaits us. It's not that simple.” He identified the problems of logistics in a separate group:
“The prices for transport are increasing, and not always justifiably. On various kinds of components.
Nevertheless, according to Ageev, “Tatarstan manages to maintain a good leading position not only in the Volga Federal District, but also throughout.”
Plans for the future
This year, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tatarstan is going to organise business missions to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
“In Europe and other countries, we will look at how the borders will open. Many questions of technical complexity arise with visas, air and other communication. But we will continue this line," Ageev said.
B2B meetings will also be held for Tatarstan entrepreneurs with representatives of China, Spain, Italy, Iran, Turkey and other countries.
In terms of supporting small and medium-sized businesses and promoting Tatarstan-made products to foreign markets, the chamber is developing options for grant support, looking for opportunities to receive republican and federal subsidies, and assisting in the digitalisation of business processes.
Last year, the CCI held 27 meetings with foreign partners and 15 international business missions, and concluded 4 international agreements.
Production growth
First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Tatarstan Nail Zalakov said that today there are more than a thousand enterprises of the food and processing industry in the republic.
“By the results of 2020, food production in Tatarstan increased by 14,1 per cent," the speaker said.
For example, milk (131%), vegetable oil (129%) and granulated sugar (104,9%) showed the greatest growth.
“The products produced by our manufacturers in the positions such as bakery products, milk and dairy products occupy up to 95% of the store shelves, " said Zalakov. “Chicken eggs, sugar, and chicken are well presented. Here, the figure is about 50 per cent.
The deputy head of the ministry noted that the export of food of Tatarstan reached about $273 million last year.
“The main markets for our products are Turkey, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Germany, Poland and Azerbaijan," he concluded.
Businesses going online
Since the beginning of the implementation of the national project “Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative”, 182 Tatarstan entrepreneurs have started working in the field of foreign trade. The total export volume of the republican producers supported by the Export Support Centre exceeded $33 million.
“It should be noted that in 2021 already eight new companies have already started to export, seven of them — thanks to e-commerce channels," said Artur Gaynov, the head of the development department of small and medium-sized business support institutions of the Department for Business Development and Competition of the Ministry of Economy of Tatarstan.
According to the speaker, e-commerce is becoming increasingly relevant. Today, about 5,000 Tatarstan entrepreneurs carry out their activities on well-known sites, such as Ozon, Wildberries, KazanExpress, with a total sales turnover of 4,2 billion rubles.
Micro-loans for entrepreneurs
Artur Gaynov said that Tatarstan is ready to offer preferential micro-loans to export-oriented representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.
“Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to get a micro-loan in the amount of up to 5 million rubles and a loan term of 3 to 36 months," he explained.
The interest rate on the loan will vary from 1 to 4,25%. “If the value of the contract for export is equal to $100,000 or more, the interest rate will be 1 per cent per annum, from $75,000 to $99,000— one second of the Central Bank's key rate, up to $74,000 — 4,25 per cent," Gaynov explained.