The government was proposed to introduce prohibitive tariffs on furniture from Europe

The government is preparing to increase import duties fivefold on wooden and upholstered furniture and mattresses from Europe and “unfriendly” countries, writes Izvestia, citing the Union of the Furniture and Wood Industry (AMDPR).

It is assumed that the fee will be increased from 8.5-12% to 50%. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development are working together on this issue, said Timur Irtuganov, general director of AMDPR. The Ministry of Industry and Trade informed that it had received the association’s proposal and considered it economically justified. In particular, the association presented financial and economic calculations that reflect the effectiveness of the tariff increase, the ministry said.

In turn, the association pointed out that the revision of tariffs is associated with retaliatory sanctions against “unfriendly” countries, as well as the need to support domestic furniture manufacturers.

“Now a rather paradoxical situation has developed: the markets of hostile countries are closed to us, while European manufacturers feel quite comfortable in the Russian domestic market and supply us with their furniture,” Irtuganov said.

If the government raises tariffs, European furniture prices could rise by around 60%, predicts Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-analytics. As a result, it will become uncompetitive on the domestic market. At the same time, the increased tariffs will apply to goods from parallel imports, Irtuganov said. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade just authorized the importation of IKEA products that have left the country.

Raising tariffs is the right measure, but it could be more severe, up to a total ban on the supply of imported furniture to Russia, said the co-owner of the Russian furniture company Mr. Door Maxim Walecki. “In principle, the domestic market does not need imported furniture. Currently, it is a small sales volume. The domestic market is provided by Russian producers,” he said.

According to AMDPR, in 2019, imported furniture in Russia accounted for 49%, and in 2022 – 24%. In 2022, the production of home furniture products increased by 15%, to 356 billion rubles. in money. However, many large enterprises still have unused capacity and are interested in increasing production volumes, the association noted.