On September 14, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation held a meeting Council for Industrial Development and Competitiveness of the Russian Economy on the topic: "Light industry of Russia: how to overcome the factors of stagnation?»

The participants noted a serious deterioration in the situation of the industry: if at the end of the XIX century, at the beginning of the XX century, the production of light industry was the locomotive of the development of the country's economy, today it is stagnating, if not in a catastrophic decline. The participants of the discussion analyzed the reasons for this decline and considered the prospects for changing the situation in this segment.

Despite the fact that the revenue of light industry enterprises in ruble terms is growing, according to nominal indicators, there has been a significant drop in the industry over the past four years. This is evidenced by the structure of imports and exports of domestic light industry products: only according to official, declared data, Russia imports products worth $ 13.5 billion, and exports only 1.1 billion rubles.

To date, the light industry is in the focus of the government's attention. So, in 2017, the state allocated 3 billion rubles to support the industry.The participants noted the constructive position of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia in solving complex industry problems, however, state support, according to all participants of the discussion, is clearly not enough.

The President of Soyuzlegprom, Andrey Razbrodin, noted that most of the existing state support measures are primarily aimed at supporting investment activity, but there are no working capital development programs. The growth of production, as evidenced by the data of analysts, is primarily due to a good start set in the early 2000s, but it will not be possible to reap the benefits of a successful start forever.

Representatives of individual Russian companies and associations of the light industry also spoke during the meeting. So, for example, Vladislav Ivanov, Director of Development of the company "Thermopol", outlined for those present a number of paradoxes accompanying the chemical industry and light industry, in particular the lack of high-quality raw materials and its semi-finished products, especially strange, given the country's largest oil and gas reserves. A Svetlana Belyaeva, head of the Russian Union of Clothing Manufacturers, noted a drop in demand in the clothing market, primarily in the high-quality products sector. According to her, in the footwear and a number of other segments of the light industry, not only cheap, but also unsafe products are now in growing demand.