One of the reasons for foreign investors to leave the Russian market together with their capital is the tightening of regulation. The most unpopular measure here was the introduction of quotas and duties on the export of grain and other products.
According to experts, in the 2020-2021 season, Russian plant growing companies may miss the amount of up to 211 billion rubles.
First of all, due to the fact that you will not be able to get additional profit by selling your products abroad at a high price. The duty, effective from March 1 on wheat exports (50 euros per ton), is, in fact, prohibitive. Therefore, it is not surprising that foreign investors are losing interest in the Russian agro-industrial complex.
For example, recently it became known that the owner of the Tambovskiy agricultural holding, created with the direct participation of Danish investors, is ready to sell his company. It is planned that it will be bought by Orlovskaya Niva, a Russian company. There is a possibility that the Danes will simply leave the Russian market — just like their money (there are no official comments on this yet).
Regulation is the main source of frustration
The study «International Business in Russia», conducted by EY, notes that the majority of surveyed foreign companies (over 90%) consider Russia a strategic market.
At the same time, half of the respondents admitted that the main obstacle on the way to coming to Russia is unstable legislation, which changes too often and is completely unpredictable. Moreover, against the background of the introduction of new laws, outdated ones do not always have time to be canceled in time.
As noted by Andrey Sizov, director of the analytical center «SovEkon», the gradual deterioration of the business climate in Russia and the situation of crop enterprises can contribute to the outflow of foreign investment.
The fact that from July the duty on the export of many types of agricultural products abroad will become «floating» does not add to optimism. This means that the government can easily change the coefficients in both directions. It is still difficult to predict how large the range of adjustments will be.
It is for this reason that foreign investors (like Russian ones) are now basically waiting for the situation to clear up and it becomes clear whether it is now profitable to engage in agriculture or not.
And some are not just waiting, but already little by little «packing their bags».
