Stanislav Naumov, the Director of the Department for Economic Analysis and Prospective Planning of the RF Minpromenergo is commenting on the current situation in the industrial production development, reviewed for the January-July, 2006 period.

- The production dynamics in January-July, 2006 saw some increase in comparison with the same period of 2005. The industrial production went up to 104.2% during the first seven months of 2006, whereas it was 103.5% in the same period of 2005. Advancing growth dynamics was seen in the production and distribution of electrical energy, of gas and heat energy – 105.5% against last year’s 101.7%. 

The tendency towards an increase in the oil supplies delivered to the internal market remains solidly unchanged. The volume of primary oilstock processing went up by 5.8% in January-June, 2006 in comparison with the same period of 2005. The production of oil products saw an increase, together with the growth of oilstock processing. At that, the production of oil gasoline came to 19.27 million tons (5.8% up on the corresponding period of 2005), of the diesel fuel – to 36.48 million tons (7.5% up), of the fuel oil – to 33.76 million tons (3.9% up). 

The military-industrial complex did not experience a uniform development. The Russian aircraft-building industry showed a positive dynamics, featuring a 10.1% production growth. The growth was mainly secured through big (in comparison with the same period of 2005) export contracts implemented by Russian companies. At the same time, the shipbuilding industry showed negative growth trends. A decrease of the civil products share in the military-industrial complex is largely explained by the reduction of the demand for high-quality domestic products, which happened due to the intensified competition with Western equivalents. The shipbuilding development strategy that will be introduced at the government meeting in the Fall envisages setting certain priority directions for the pursuit by the Russian enterprises of certain areas of expertise on the world shipbuilding market. We are capable of manufacturing unique products. For instance, we can build ships equipped for the development of the continental shelf plate. 

The light industry was on a significant rise (109-112% for the main types of activity) in comparison with the considerable production reduction seen in January-July of 2005 (95-96%). 

The chemical and plastic production segments developed at a faster pace in 2006 (102-110.6% against 100.8-99.5% in 2005), and the metallurgic production followed suit (111.4% against 101.4%).