How has the import of tapered roller bearings changed in Russia. Expert analysis

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2023, Russian factories produced 37 million bearings, which is 20.8% more than in 2022. But, alas, there are not enough of them, and a lot has to be imported. For comparison: China produces about 20 billion bearings per year, about 5 billion are exported.

In July 2024, during one of the conferences of the Rosspetsmash Association, the Chairman of the Union of Bearing Manufacturers, corporate director of VECTOR LLC Alexey Kuleshov confirmedthat the volume of bearing production in Russia in 2023 increased to 37.1 million units. At the same time, the total volume of the domestic market reaches approximately 160 million bearings per year. According to Alexey Kuleshov, a number of difficulties hinder more active growth of the industry. Thus, in this segment of production there is no technical regulation system that could protect local manufacturers and help combat counterfeiting. In addition, industry representatives feel the need for domestic specialized machine tools and tools, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to supply imported ones. The issue of pricing in the metals market and personnel shortage should also be resolved.

In 2014-2021, imports of all types of bearings amounted to 47-88 thousand tons per year, worth $294-612 million. In terms of value, the top 5 supplier countries were Germany, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, China and Japan, although in terms of weight, the leaders were Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Latvia and China. The minimum in value terms was observed in 2015, and the maximum in 2021.

In 2022, Western companies introduced strict economic sanctions against Russia and imports changed dramatically. This especially affected the commodity item under the HS code 848220 “Tapered roller bearings”, since a significant share of them are used in heavy engineering, in particular in freight railway cars, large vehicles, super-heavy factory equipment, and are of great strategic importance. Our data are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Import and export of tapered roller bearings in 2020-2023, million units, thousand tons, million $

Note: bearings according to TN VED code 848220

Source: author based on the Federal Customs Service database

The export of tapered roller bearings in 2020 was relatively large and went mainly to countries with a 1520 gauge, as well as to places where our heavy machinery was used or our bearings were suitable as components of industrial equipment, such as Mongolian Trans Logistic LLC and Mongolian-Russian Joint-Stock Company Ulaanbaatar Railway (Mongolia), Akhangarancement JSC (Uzbekistan), ERMAERO Repair Plant (Algeria), Imet-Ake SRO (Slovakia), SC Green LAND SA (Romania), СО 31 MCU AF PALAM (India), Pojazdy Szynowe Pesa Bydgoszcz SA (Poland), BELAZ Premar Services DOO (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

In 2022, the export of bearings jumped up. In essence, Western structures in Russian jurisdiction re-exported Russian warehouse stocks (those that were under their control through subsidiaries and joint ventures).

Thus, in 2022, Caterpillar Distribution International LLC (Chernaya Gryaz, Moscow Region) exported to Belgium, in the name of Caterpillar Sarl Parts Distribution Center (1850, Grimbergen, Humbeeksesteenweg, 98), more than 100 batches of bearings for off-road heavy-duty vehicles and road construction equipment, a total of 3,324 units weighing 8 tons, worth $0.5 million, indicating 19 countries of origin: Austria, England, Hungary, Vietnam, Germany, India, Italy, Canada, China, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Romania, Slovakia, USA, Ukraine, France, Sweden, Japan.

In the same year 2022, the “Branch of John Deere Agricultural Holdings, Inc.” sent all its bearings from Moscow, production in Germany, the USA and Sweden to its warehouses in Germany and the USA (John Deere Walldorf GmbH&CO.KG and Deere & Company) 1945 units weighing 2 tons for a total of $0.25 million.

Similar actions were taken in 2022 by CNH Industrial Russia LLC (Nizhny Chelny) for its French parent company CNH Industrial France (Plessis-Belleville), as well as other structures with the CRAFT and SKF brands.

Structure of import of bearings

The main countries supplying roller bearings are shown in Diagram 1.

Figure 1: Main countries-suppliers of roller bearings in 2023, million $

China is in 1st place by a wide margin. Interestingly, Turkey holds a significant second place.

The importers were about 1,000 enterprises in all regions of the Russian Federation. The majority of imports amounted to less than $1 million in 2023. It is clear from the names that they represent the interests of Russian Railways, the automotive industry, agro-industry, mining, metallurgy, road construction, aviation, electrical engineering, general engineering and other sectors of the national economy of the Russian Federation, as well as bearing manufacturers themselves. The main, largest importers of tapered roller bearings are presented in Table 3.

Table 2: Largest importers of tapered roller bearings in 2023 million $

Source: author based on data from the Federal Customs Service

Both leading positions are held by Russian Railways structures. In 2023, PJSC TransContainer imported 49.9 thousand double-row tapered bearings manufactured by Wafangdian Bearing Group Corporation Ltd. (China) for TBU 150X250X160 freight cars, and New Wagon Repair Company LLC imported 51 thousand double-row roller bearings of the 150X250X160 type from Luoyang LYC Bearing Co. Ltd. (China).

Conclusion

In May 2022 we released material about what happened to the domestic production of railway bearings. Since then, the situation has improved, and importers have changed a lot. As you can see, the leading positions in supplies to Russia have been taken by friendly countries, led by China (this country accounted for two thirds of imports). Most likely, a similar picture will continue in the future.

Author: Teslenko V.V. Ph.D.

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