The fact that the state of the country's market in its various segments affects the lives of most citizens is obvious. And although not everyone is interested in economic mechanisms, it’s worth understanding the key processes. And one of the urgent topics that it makes sense to touch on is the import of goods. Adjustment of foreign trade policy is necessary for a more competent and effective entry into the international market of Russian companies.
Essence of the process
Initially, you need to understand what import is. The simplest explanation is the import of foreign goods into the country. This term is often used to describe the products themselves, which were delivered to the Russian Federation from foreign manufacturers. It should also be understood that not only goods can be imported, but also services, capital, intellectual values, and ideas themselves.
In Russia, decisions regarding any import are made under the influence of the following factors:
- the presence of a shortage in a certain segment of the market for products manufactured by national companies (that is, there are, but few of them);
- lack of domestic products relevant to the market of goods;
- the cost of foreign products is much lower than the cost of Russian analogues;
- The quality that the importer-manufacturer offers is significantly higher than that provided by the Russian companies.
To summarize these points, we can say that imports are needed when local producers are not able to fully meet the needs of the market on a national or regional scale.
Regulatory tools
In order for economic processes to remain within the borders that are favorable for the state, certain levers of influence on imports are used.
First of all, it is an import restriction policy. This is a set of measures aimed at protecting domestic producers from the fierce competition of foreign companies. As a result, the volume of imports is reduced, and national companies get more opportunities for development. The practice of such a policy has more than once proved the fact that such a strategy allows one to obtain a profit that significantly exceeds the associated losses.
The next way to regulate the impact of foreign manufacturers is import factoring. This term should be understood as the provision of a loan for the purchase of foreign products to Russian customers.
The next important process within the framework of this topic is the import substitution policy. In this case, we are talking about competent and active stimulation of the national production of goods that have the potential to become high-quality analogues of the products that the country of import supplies.
It is worth mentioning the indicator of the ratio of the cost of products imported into the country and the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the state. It is necessary to clarify the fact how much the country is ready to pay for imports from its official reserves.
Import of Russia and its export
If we talk about how successfully the Russian Federation sells domestic goods on the foreign market, then it is worth starting with general data.
First of all, it should be noted that the volume of imports of the Russian Federation over the years has grown by about 19% per year. Such statistics are explained by favorable conditions both in foreign markets and domestically.
In more detail, the demand for raw materials mined in the country, products of the defense complex and products of the first redistribution within the Russian Federation grew much more slowly than the supply potential demanded. Naturally, this all led to a stable increase in export supplies.
As for how Russian imports looked like all these years, it was mainly imported light industry goods, medicines, equipment and cars. Passenger cars have been and are a particularly popular product coming into the country from abroad.
Food imports
This group of products deserves special attention. We are talking about fresh and frozen fish, as well as meat, sugar, olives, wheat, butter, citrus fruits, milk and cream, as well as many other products.
In total, in just one quarter, more than 120 tons of food group goods can be imported into the country.
If you look globally at what import is in Russia, the following fact should be noted: the key goods of foreign manufacturers in the domestic market are food (products of the first redistribution), as well as engineering products.
Such a picture has been relevant since Russia joined in international economic relations as an independent entity.
The difficulties of foreign trade
Initially, it is necessary to determine the fact that international trade It is one of the key channels for the outflow of Russian capital outside the country. Understanding what import to the Russian Federation is, it is important to understand how sensitive the country's economy is to any fluctuations in the state of the international market.
In the process of its economic development, the inevitable expansion of imports is accompanied by such a fact as the strengthening of the positions of foreign manufacturers, moreover, in those segments of the Russian market that are extremely important for domestic companies.
Do not ignore the impact on the state of the country's economy of prices in the framework of the fuel and raw materials complex. The economic, budgetary and financial indicators of the Russian Federation directly depend on this factor. Fluctuations within this segment lead to instability of the Russian economy, which, combined with growth in imports, is an extremely serious negative phenomenon.
Optimization methods
Despite the fact that the cost of imports and their volume make many domestic companies actively fight for successful development, there is still some progress. It is achieved through the active export of raw materials and goods of other groups. Such compensation allows us to achieve positive results at the end of each year.
At the same time, there remains a market that needs special attention to stabilize the process of economic growth. We are talking about active trade with those countries that are part of the CIS. It is the strategy of the active development of trade relations in these regions that will bring the marketing of non-primary goods and services, in particular equipment and machinery, to a fundamentally new level.
The good news is that at the moment, key decisions have already been taken and the necessary documents have been drawn up for effective cooperation between the countries of the commonwealth. All that remains to be done is to take a competent initiative in the direction of market development.
Federal law
Trying to understand what import is, it is important to pay attention to the federal law on state regulation of foreign trade. In fact, this is the legal basis of those strategies and leverage that have been described above.
The application of this law is associated with all operations and actions that are carried out as part of processes such as import and export. True, there are certain exceptions. We are talking about the actions of Russian government bodies and the national bank, which do not have a commercial basis.The category of exceptions includes operations carried out within the framework of social and pension (state) security. Moreover, services in this direction should not be carried out on a competitive basis.
Basic concepts
In order for the legislation regarding foreign trade to be extremely effective and understandable, all terms relevant to this topic were officially recorded. There are 28 of them, but as an example, several of these concepts can be cited:
- International transit. This is nothing more than the movement of vehicles through the customs territory of the Russian Federation.
- Import of goods. We are talking about the import of products into the customs territory of Russia without an accompanying obligation regarding re-export.
- Commercial presence. Any form of organization of economic activity or entrepreneurship of a foreign person in the territory of Russia, which is not prohibited by the current legislation of the Russian Federation. The same term is used to describe the similar activity of domestic companies on the market of other countries.
It is worth paying attention to the key goal of this federal law. Its essence boils down to several tasks:
- unity of the customs territory of the Russian Federation;
- protection at the state level of the interests of those who take an active part in foreign economic activity, as well as the rights of national companies, as well as consumers of goods;
- ensuring equality and preventing the formation of discrimination against companies related to foreign trade;
- ensuring compliance with established obligations of the Russian Federation in accordance with international treaties, etc.
In order for the state policy regarding import and export to be carried out extremely efficiently and quickly, the relevant federal authorities are endowed with all the necessary powers.
Conclusion
Having received the answer to the question of what import is, we can come to the obvious conclusion: this component of foreign trade has a more than tangible effect on the state of domestic companies and the country's economy as a whole. For this reason, a lot of attention has always been paid to government policies regarding imports.
