Manufacturing

Over the years of economic reforms, Russia’s industry was reshaped, which involved deep structural changes. Industrial production has remained one of the most important sectors in Moscow’s economy, meeting the capital’s demand for many products, including foodstuffs. Furthermore, the capital’s manufacturing sector has been a viable contributor to Russia’s export potential.

Moscow’s industry is a unique manufacturing complex embracing companies from nearly all branches except mining. Currently, the city’s industry is represented by roughly 1,000 large and medium-sized companies, and 13,000 small industrial enterprises. The sector employs over half a million people, with 400,000 more people engaged in industrial research and scientific studies. The range of goods manufactured by Moscow enterprises includes various consumer products, as well as producer goods. The most important categories are motor gasoline, diesel oil, steel, rolled ferrous metals products, steel pipes, synthetic resins and chemical fibres, painting materials, metal cutting equipment, pumps, compressors, cars, timber, walling materials, soft roofing, textiles, shoes, clothes, food products, etc.

In terms of value of the total output, the following manufacturing sectors dominated the Moscow industry in 2010

• oil refining;
• food industry;
• electric, electronic and optical equipment production;
• production of nonmetallic mineral commodities.

The average wages at Moscow’s manufacturing enterprises stood at RUB 31,305 in 2010, and varied depending on the type of processing activities.

The city’s Department of Science and Industrial Policy places the highest priority on the following key objectives:

• enhancing the competitive edge of manufacturing industries through technical upgrading, rollout of automated quality and industrial safety control systems, and building up of a cutting-edge personnel structure in terms of skills and qualifications;
• creating the basis for sustained development of highly efficient industrial capacity by extending inter-industry cooperation, the specialization and integration of applied sectoral research and industrial production, switching large industrial enterprises to a subcontractor model involving small businesses, and making the city’s land resources play an active part in the further advance of industrial capacity;
• increasing the export potential of manufacturing industries and introducing industrial enterprises to the division of labour on the global scale;
• promoting further demand for industrial output (services) by forestalling the industry’s needs and building up the required infrastructure at an outstripping pace, as well as intensifying interregional cooperation;
• using efficient incentives to give an impetus to the city’s promising industries, preserving and achieving the full potential of applied (industry-specific) sciences;
• creating an environment for setting up innovation production clusters and specialized industrial parks based on industrial and research centres, with small businesses granted opportunities to take an active part.