Foreign household appliances will rise in price due to deliveries bypassing Kazakhstan

Imported household appliances may rise in price by 10-12% after Kazakhstan’s decision to tighten control over supplies to Russia. About it informed “Kommersant”.

“Now there are still opportunities to transport products through Kazakhstan, but the tightening of customs control has led to an increase in the cost of supplies. <...> Due to the complexity of logistics, the cost of imported goods in the Russian Federation may increase by 10-12%,” said Georgy Vlastopulo, CEO of the Optimalog logistics company.

As a result, suppliers began to look for alternative channels, including through China, Kyrgyzstan and the UAE. According to the commercial director of Holodilnik.ru, Alexei Pogudalov, Astana’s decision has complicated the delivery of products through Uzbekistan, as the cargo crosses the territory of Kazakhstan. As a result, suppliers may stop purchasing equipment from LG brands previously imported through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, SamsungBosch, Elctrolux, etc. “Consumer demand has already shifted towards Chinese and Turkish home appliances, and products purchased at a higher price from LG, Samsung, Bosch, etc. may simply be illiquid,” Pogudalov noted.

Since April 1, a system for recording imported and exported products has been launched in Kazakhstan, which will allow controlling goods passing through Kazakhstan for re-export until they reach their final destination. As the Financial Times and Eurasianet wrote, this measure is necessary “to demonstrate compliance with Western sanctions on Russia and sanctioned parallel imports.”

At the same time, on March 27, in the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, Vedomosti reportedthat the mandatory execution of accompanying invoices for goods in electronic form and tracking the movement of goods in the EAEU space are necessary to “reduce shadow turnover and eliminate tax losses (VAT)”.