Formation of conditions for the development of the Ministry of Agriculture: the era of the revival of chemistry

As part of the business program of the 7th International Specialized Exhibition of Professional and Household Chemicals, hygiene products, raw materials and ingredients Chemicos on March 21, 2023, a round table “Formation of conditions for the development of MSTH: the era of the revival of chemistry” was held. The event was organized by the Titan Group of Companies, the Delovaya Rossiya Chemical Industry Committee and the Russian Union of Chemists.

During the discussion, such important issues were raised as the formation of infrastructure for the development of MSTH productions, the promotion of goods and manufacturers of MSTH to the Russian market, the role of youth in the development of Russian chemistry. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Russian Union of Chemists, the Association “Roschemreactive”, financial institutions, industrialists.

Opening the discussion, Mikhail Sutyaginsky, Chairman of the Chemical Industry Committee of Delovaya Rossiya, noted that the current period of global changes is an era of opportunities for new projects and opens up new prospects for development in the chemical industry, in this regard, the construction of production facilities in the field of MSTH requires a new approach.

Mikhail Yurin, Director of the Department of Chemical and Technological Complex and Bioengineering Technologies of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia: “We conducted an analysis. In 2022, chemical industry enterprises received support measures for almost 30 billion rubles. In particular, FRP provided preferential loans in 2022 for the implementation of 44 projects in the chemistry industry totaling 19.5 billion rubles. This underlines that it is in many ways a fundamental branch of our economy. Now a set of measures has been created to implement projects that did not look attractive to investors last year. We very much hope for the active participation of business in the creation of new chemical industries.”

Maria Ivanova, First Vice-President of the Russian Union of Chemists, focused on important aspects of the development of low-tonnage chemistry in Russia. It is necessary to develop a comprehensive approach to the development of MSTH in Russia, it is necessary to take into account the potential of each analyzed production and its inclusion in the general production chains. It is necessary to cultivate worthy competencies that will implement all the necessary initiatives. “The time has come for new formats of creative development of the domestic industry, involving large holdings, science, engineering centers, manufacturers of chemical equipment. The emphasis should be on the formation of real chemical clusters with a full production cycle and small businesses,” concluded Maria Ivanova.

The General Director of the Association “Roschemreactive” Irina Vendilo shared her vision of the current situation in the industry: “Today, MSTH enterprises are working to maintain current orders, primarily by providing critical industries with the required products. At the same time, there is a queue of clients demanding to give what is literally “lying on the shelf”, i.e. is in development. At the same time, most of the companies have grown by 40% over the past 2 years and, in this regard, have faced a whole range of growth problems, jumping over their financial barriers. In the current situation, of course, support measures are in demand more than ever. However, the main business request is to support investment projects from an analytical point of view. There is also an urgent issue of selecting appropriate support measures, assessing their applicability and effectiveness in each case. We in the association actively advise companies on these issues and the demand is only growing.”

Answering the question of what domestic chemistry can offer, the director of M9 Pharm, Nikolay Daryin, noted that “now there is a technological transition all over the world. Our company is a representative of this direction. There are many companies in Russia that produce ingredients at a new technological level for domestic industries, including the perfume and chemical industry. This kind of production helps to build new technological chains in chemistry. The development of such projects is hindered by the complex regulatory environment in the country and bureaucratic barriers.”

The participants of the discussion also noted that among the problems hindering the development of the chemical industry in Russia are logistics difficulties caused by sanctions and the workload of logistics centers in the east of the country, the lack of a single body for consolidating state support measures from all authorities.

Media representatives noted the need for competent speakers who will be able to communicate with the audience in an understandable language, eliminate “chemical phobia” and generate interesting projects.

Summing up the discussion, Ekaterina Gracheva noted that “the main request from business is the creation of a clear, orderly structure of state support and proposals formulated in the “one window” mode. If the support comes from different departments, then there should be no contradictions between them. The request from the journalistic community is simple: to be honest about your competitive advantages, not to mislead about the composition of your products. This will allow you to make interesting reports about the production and uniqueness of domestic products. Also, in order to popularize MSTH and its products, it is necessary to implement non-obvious PR projects in the form of not only documentaries, but also game clips interesting to a wide range of consumers.”

A pleasant surprise from the organizers was the innovation in the format of the round table. The discussion was closely followed by artist Anastasia Savelyeva, who sketched all the proposals and problems voiced during the event in the style of scribing.

The Association “Roschemreactive” cordially thanks all the organizers and participants for an interesting discussion and is open to further cooperation.