Kaliningrad TV assembler transfers capacity to Moscow region

As Kommersant found out, another TV assembler is leaving the Kaliningrad region: following Telebalt, STI Group moved production “to the mainland”, planning to double its capacity in the Moscow region, potentially to more than 1 million devices per year. The company is waiting for demand from Russian brands. But experts doubt the growth of the TV market in 2024 and note that Chinese factories have begun to give discounts on orders, and local banks are limiting payments for supplies of components.

The Kaliningrad assembler of household appliances (TVs TCL, DEXP, BBK, BQ, Erisson, etc.) STI Group has stopped production in the region and is expanding its capacity in the Moscow region, the company’s general director Kirill Skvortsov told Kommersant. According to him, STI Group stopped production of equipment in the Kaliningrad region after the closure of logistics chains by sea, and launched new production in Voskresensk in 2023: “We are now increasing the number of assembly lines from two to four. The decision is due to increased demand for placing orders from Russian TV vendors.”

Investments in expansion, according to the top manager, have already exceeded 150 million rubles. Mr. Skvortsov noted that by the end of 2023, the Moscow region enterprise produced more than 300 thousand devices, and with the expansion of the plant’s capacity, it will be possible to produce more than 1 million televisions per year.

Due to problems with logistics, the manufacturer of Hyundai, BBK, Toshiba and other TVs, Telebalt T LLC, is moving production from Kaliningrad to the Leningrad region (see Kommersant of March 11). A Kommersant source among TV manufacturers clarified that the new enterprise will be registered under another legal entity, which will have common investors with Telebalt. The Ministry of Economy of the Kaliningrad Region emphasizes that, despite the departure of some companies, in 2023, 19.5% more televisions were manufactured in the region than in 2022.

Meanwhile, the director of the consumer electronics department of OCS Distribution, Vladislav Borodin, “does not observe” a significant increase in demand for the localization of TV assembly in the Russian Federation, “on the contrary, some local customers are returning to purchasing finished products in China.” According to the expert, the reason may be that Chinese factories have begun to provide discounts.

Kirill Skvortsov adds that Russian production may face problems in paying for components through Chinese banks, which began blocking payments this year. As an interlocutor among TV manufacturers explained to Kommersant, most Chinese banks work with exports to various countries, including the EU and the USA, “Russian electronics in total amount to less than 1.1% of global production, so banks choose for themselves more profitable and less risky areas of work.”

Market participants also doubt its growth. If last year the TV market showed significant growth, then in 2024 there is no reason for this, confirms Dmitry Levin, managing director of the department of large household appliances at Marvel Distribution. “There are enough contract capacities, they are almost fully occupied, and the emergence of new production facilities can reduce the load on existing ones,” he notes.

Mr. Borodin believes that tax incentives could stimulate the localization of TV assembly in Russia; “at one time in the Kaliningrad region, it was thanks to incentives that TV production was actively created and developed.”

Timofey Kornev