Industry in Russian Federation

The structure of Russian industry was greatly affected by Soviet planned system in which the role of heavy industry in economic growth was leading. In accordance with Soviet theory, heavy industry was promoted above all other sectors. Industrial output for national defence also received high priority in Soviet plans. Russian industries are very technologically advanced in the production of certain items, such as aerospace technology. The machine-building industries are mainly located in the largest cities because these industries are labour intensive.

In the 1920s the Soviet government began the industrialization of the USSR. At that time, Soviet manufacturing enterprises in Russia were concentrated in the Moscow and Saint Petersburg areas. At the same time, work was begun on the electrification of areas in the Urals with large coal and mineral reserves. At the same time planning began for the electrification of various Siberian regions. As economic planning progressed, and as the electric-power areas increased, new manufacturing complexes were installed to take maximum advantage of these natural resources. As a result, production increased in the eastern regions. This significant expansion was accomplished by developing the new eastern industrial regions. At the same time the production of older industrial regions continued to increase their output.

Today the manufacture of transportation equipment is concentrated in central European Russia. The largest shipbuilding center is in Saint Petersburg on the Baltic Sea. Smaller shipyards are located in Kaliningrad. Most of the country’s river-craft are built in the Volga-Kama River Basin. The oldest, and still the largest, river craft shipyard is located in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod. Other riverboat manufacturing plants are in Moscow, Rybinsk, and Kostroma on the upper Volga River.

The motor-vehicle manufacturing industry is limited in Russia because the Soviet government gave low priority to vehicular traffic as compared with railroads and other forms of transportation. However, Russia has several large-scale automobile and truck factories. These factories produced about 85 percent of all trucks and cars manufactured in the USSR in 1990. The largest construction project in the USSR during the eighth Soviet five-year Plan (1966-1970) was the establishment of the Volga Motor Vehicle Plant at Tol’yatti, in eastern European Russia. This plant’s capacity is about 660 000 automobiles a year. Other important automobile assembly plants are in Moscow, Izhevsk, and Nizhniy Novgorod. The largest construction project during the ninth Five-Year Plan (1971-1975) was the Kama Truck Plant in Naberezhnye Chelny. Trucks are also produced in Nizhniy Novgorod, Moscow, Simbirsk on the Volga, and Miass in the Urals.

The USSR was the largest producer of tractors in the world and a sizable exporter. Most of the principal producing plants are in European Russia, in Volgograd, Vladimir, Bryansk, and Lipetsk. Chelyabinsk and Rubtsovsk in Siberia.

Russia is also a major producer of textiles. The USSR led the world in the production of almost all kinds of textiles. The majority of its productive capacity located in the Russian cities of Moscow, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Tver’, and Vladimir. In these cities the textile production has been based for more than a century. In the late 1980s the annual production of cotton yarn in the USSR stood at 1.7 million metric tons, which ranked well above the second-place competitor, the United States. The country was by far the world’s largest producer of linen fabrics (1.2 billion sq m) and woolen yarn (465,000 metric tons). It was second only to Japan in the production of natural silk woven fabric. The USSR also led in the production of rayon and acetate fibers but lagged in synthetic fibers derived from non-cellulose materials. In general, the country was somewhat behind the rest of the developed world in the technology of synthetic fibers and plastics. Since the disintegration of the USSR, textile production in Russia has suffered greatly, as the other Soviet republics were a major source of textile raw materials. Nearly all of the country’s raw cotton came from Central Asia and Azerbaijan. With a shortage of supplies from these countries, many Russian textile mills were closed. Total textile production in Russia fell by more than 50 percent in 1992.

Russia has traditionally been a major producer of leather goods, and the Soviet government greatly expanded the industry. The USSR ranked as world leader in the production of leather footwear, manufacturing approximately 820 million pairs of shoes and boots each year, compared with 217.6 million in the United States.

The food industries form another important manufacturing sector in Russia. Initially, flourmills were built in the major grain-producing areas. New flourmills are generally located in areas with larger population concentration. A considerable part of the country’s fresh fruits and vegetables are canned or conserved in the growing areas. Transportation and refrigeration facilities are not adequate to market fresh produce at great distances.

In general, industrial output in Russia has declined in recent years. Industry still continues a general slowdown in growth that took place during the last years of the USSR. Overall industrial production declined by about 18 percent in 1992. At the same time the drop in production of specific items was much greater. In comparison to first-quarter output in 1992, the 1993 first-quarter output of paints was 50 percent lower, synthetic dyes 48 percent lower, cement 38 percent lower, and synthetic rubber 32 percent lower. Production of consumer durables declined in general in 1992. At the same time the output of some products, such as television sets, in fact increased. The production of food items also declined in general, with the exception of sugar production, which recently increased.