Vendors crowd around the stove – Newspaper Kommersant No. 18 (7463) dated 02/01/2023

Russian and Chinese manufacturers of household appliances are interested in buying and leasing the capacities of LG, Bosch and Samsung in the Russian Federation, which, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, stopped production in the country or redirected it to export. Among the possible interested parties, Kommersant’s sources name the Russian brands Kuppersberg and Schaub Lorenz, which so far occupy no more than 1-2% of the market, and the Chinese Hisense. Negotiations on the localization of their production are underway with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Sources of Kommersant in the household appliances market said that a number of Russian and Chinese vendors are negotiating the lease and purchase of Russian factories Bosch, LG and Samsung, which limited work in the country after the start of the military operation in 2022. Among the brands that are interested in capacity, Kommersant’s interlocutors name the Chinese Hisense (in the Russian Federation it sells refrigerators, washing machines, TVs and other equipment; owns the Toshiba and Gorenje brands), Russian Kuppersberg and Schaub Lorenz (refrigerators, hoods, hobs and other Technics). The latter use contract manufacturing in different countries, such as China and Turkey.

Aleksey Pogudalov, commercial director of Holodilnik.ru, also heard about the interest of several Russian manufacturers of household appliances in the capacities of LG, Samsung and Bosch in the Russian Federation: “Vendors are planning not only production under their own brand, but also the placement of contract production by former owners of factories.” According to him, the companies applied for consultations to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but so far no agreements have been reached.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade told Kommersant that they could not comment on the plans of commercial companies to purchase capacities in Russia, but “support the localization of high-tech industries.”

BSH Household Appliances LLC (manufactured by Bosch in the Russian Federation) reported that “I do not comment on rumors.” “Supplies have been temporarily suspended, production is idle,” the LLC specified. “The company is studying various options for further actions.” The press service of Samsung says that no proposals have been received from applicants. Kuppersberg CEO Dmitry Shashkin claims that the company did not apply to the departed vendors to rent or buy out their production, but is considering localizing production in the country and consultations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade are underway. Schaub Lorenz also assures that they did not negotiate with the departed brands. LG and Hisense did not answer “Kommersant”.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, South Korean Samsung announced that it was suspending deliveries to Russia (see Kommersant dated March 5, 2022). Samsung has a plant in the Kaluga region for the production of televisions, monitors and washing machines. According to the official website of the company, about 1 thousand people worked at the production. Later, Kommersant found out that Samsung’s production in Russia had completely switched to export deliveries (see Kommersant dated July 1, 2022).

LG also introduced restrictions on the supply of its equipment (see Kommersant dated March 18, 2022). The concern owns a land plot in the village of Dorohovo in the Moscow region with an area of ​​102 thousand square meters. m, follows from the data of SPARK-Interfax. It has a plant with an area of ​​22 thousand square meters. m. In October, “Kommersant” found out that the concern was considering the possibility of transferring production to Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan (see “Kommersant” dated October 21, 2022).

The German Bosch did not announce the termination of deliveries to the Russian Federation, but due to EU export restrictions, the company’s plant in St. Petersburg (the total volume of produced equipment exceeded 1 million devices per year) stopped work (see “Kommersant” dated March 15, 2022). The Russian division of the German brand began looking for a buyer for the plant back in August (see Kommersant dated August 22, 2022).

A Kommersant source in a Russian electronics retailer says that Hisense is mainly represented in the Russian Federation in the TV and climate technology segment. According to him, the Russian brand Kuppersberg is popular in the embedded technology segment, occupying about 2-4% of the market in pieces. Schaub Lorenz, on the other hand, occupies about 1% in the segment of large and small household appliances. Citilink noted that due to a decrease in the range of sales of LG and Bosch equipment decreased by 1.5 times in units compared to last year, and Samsung – more than 1.5 times: “Schaub Lorenz and Kuppersberg offer premium segment equipment , the demand for it is lower than for budget models.

Localization of production is necessary for those companies that plan to develop in the domestic market of the Russian Federation, said the interlocutor of Kommersant among large distributors: “Import of large household appliances of the mass segment is inferior to local production for two reasons – expensive logistics of bulky goods and customs duties.

Timofey Kornev