{"id":356129,"date":"2026-03-31T02:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356129\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:22:27","slug":"russias-civilian-industry-downturn-accelerated-in-early-2026-think-tank-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356129\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s Civilian Industry Downturn Accelerated in Early 2026, Think Tank Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia\u2019s civilian industrial sectors accelerated their decline at the start of 2026, a Kremlin-linked think tank said<\/a>, citing weak investment demand and falling output across most industries.<\/p>\n

Industrial production excluding defense-related sectors fell 2% over the winter months, according to the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF). In February, output was just 1.1% above the average monthly level of 2021, the lowest<\/a> since March 2023.<\/p>\n

The data underscore widening gaps between defense-driven growth and the broader economy as state spending on the military masks weakness in civilian industries.<\/p>\n

Rosstat data show output declining in most major sectors. In January-February, only pharmaceuticals \u2014 up 8.3% year-on-year \u2014 and two defense-linked categories posted growth: computers, electronics and optical products rose 7.3%, while other transport equipment jumped 19.8%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe epicenter of the downturn is industries tied to investment demand,\u201d CMASF said, noting companies are cutting capital spending.<\/p>\n

Investment growth began slowing in mid-2025 and fell<\/a> 2.3% for the year. The Economy Ministry expects a further decline in 2026.<\/p>\n

Production of construction materials, which was already under pressure, fell 10-25% below the 2024 monthly average in February, with cement, concrete and brick output shrinking 1.7-2.8% per month in January-February on a seasonally adjusted basis.<\/p>\n

Steel output fell 1.1% per month on a calendar-adjusted basis and dropped 11% year-on-year in January-February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sector is moving into survival mode,\u201d said<\/a> Yaroslav Kabakov, strategy director at Finam, citing sharp cuts to investment programs.<\/p>\n

Machinery and equipment output continued to contract, falling 2.2% in February after a 1.2% drop in January. Output is now about 75% of its 2024 average, CMASF estimates.<\/p>\n

A tentative recovery in the auto sector has stalled. Output fell 1.5% month-on-month in February to 76.6% of the 2024 average. Executives at AvtoVAZ and KamAZ do not expect<\/a> a rebound this year.<\/p>\n

Wood processing output also declined, falling 1.4% in February and standing at 91% of the 2024 average and 80% of 2021 levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cFebruary\u2019s figures look weak and increasingly point to a sustained negative trend,\u201d said<\/a> Alexei Klimyuk of Alfa Capital.<\/p>\n

Read this story in Russian at The Moscow Times’ Russian service.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s civilian industrial sectors accelerated their decline at the start of 2026, a Kremlin-linked think tank said, citing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,2454,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-356129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-industry","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}