Russia's Ban on Army Purchase of Foreign Textiles Proposed

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, who is in charge of the military industry, supports the proposal to ban the purchase of foreign textiles by the military. On the 24th, he wrote on Facebook: “We can produce everything independently and not buy Chinese products.” But experts questioned his proposal.

Russia’s “The Herald” stated on the 24th that the relevant documents of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia had stipulated that in the country’s national defense orders, all textiles should use products produced by Russian companies, and the Russian military should prohibit the purchase of cotton, wool, linen, and silk from abroad. , fabrics and sewing threads and other textiles. This ban involves foreign production of uniforms, casual clothes, underwear, bedding, hats, socks, pillows, knitwear and footwear. According to reports, due to the inability to compete with foreign cheap products, Russia’s light industry is currently on the brink of collapse, and urgent measures must be taken to bring it back to life.

However, some Russian experts questioned this, if textiles are produced by Russia, it may cause a sharp increase in domestic textile prices. Moreover, many textile species are not produced in Russia and must be purchased from abroad, otherwise they cannot meet domestic demand. Therefore, a simple ban may lead to disastrous consequences.

Russian News Agency stated on the 24th that at the end of last year, the Russian military announced that it would restrict the use of foreign-made fabrics to make uniforms for the Russian military. According to sources, 50% of Russian military uniforms use Chinese-made fabrics.

According to the report, the reason why the Russian military decided to ban the purchase of Chinese textiles was because some textile mills producing uniforms for the Russian military complained to the government that their textile products were facing competition from Chinese products. The Yevgeny Titov, president of Tchaikovsky Textile Group, the largest textile company in Russia producing uniforms for the Ministry of Defense, once said: “The cheap and poor quality fabrics produced in Asian countries are squeezing domestic products. The Russian law is not perfect, and the law prohibits the export of fabric printed with the Russian military uniform pattern, but it can import fabrics to make uniforms." The company's commercial manager Mokhov said: "According to statistics, in 2011 we secured the Ministry of Defense against cotton and 15% to 17% of the demand for cotton fabrics, compared to 50% in 2009."

In this regard, Daria Morozova, head of the State Procurement Agency of the Russian Ministry of Defense, said that all the materials purchased within the framework of national defense procurement will only be products produced by Russian domestic manufacturers, and only if the domestic manufacturers do not produce them. Only purchase products from foreign companies.