In an interview with socialbites.ca, Alexander Shevelev, the general director of JSC Severstal Management, rejected claims that Russia produces nails in minimal amounts and must rely on imports. Earlier, Valentina Matvienko, the Federation Council speaker, indicated during a plenary session that Russia’s nail imports remain notable despite domestic steel production, which surprised her.
Severstal-Metiz has manufactured nails for more than five decades. In 2021 the factory produced 9 thousand tons of nails, with roughly 2 thousand tons destined for export. This places Severstal-Metiz’s share of the Russian nail market at about 8%. By contrast, domestic production accounts for 77% of nails sold in Russia, while imports cover roughly 23%. In 2020, Belarus and China were the primary suppliers, responsible for approximately 84.3% and 10.7% of total imports respectively. Exports from Russian producers reached around 21 thousand tons, about 23% of the nation’s total nail output.
According to the company’s general manager, there is presently no shortage of nail production capacity within the market.
“If demand rises, we stand ready to meet new orders by leveraging a 25–30% capacity reserve, depending on the product specifics,” Shevelev stated.
Earlier, a spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade told RIA Novosti that Russia produces a sufficient number of nails and that imports affect only a narrow segment of the market.