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Due to the tightening of control over the supply of electronics to the Russian Federation by the Kazakh government, distributors began to change countries of import to China, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates, which increases the cost of the final product by 10–12%, according to logistics companies. Kazakhstan also supplied household appliances from Uzbekistan: these two countries were the largest importers of electronics from Samsung, LG, Bosch, Electrolux and others. Distributors say that it is becoming unprofitable to purchase such equipment in the new price conditions.

After the statements of the Kazakh government about tightening control of parallel imports in the Russian Federation, Russian distributors began to move supply channels to other countries, such as China, Kyrgyzstan, the UAE, etc., Georgy Vlastopulo, general director of the Optimalog logistics company, told Kommersant: “Now there are still opportunities to transport products through Kazakhstan, but the tightening of customs control has led to an increase in the cost of supplies.” This information was confirmed to Kommersant by an interlocutor in the electronics market.

The fact that Kazakhstan "will not allow its jurisdiction to be used to circumvent anti-Russian sanctions," Roman Vasilenko, deputy foreign minister of the republic, said in early April. According to him, since April 1, a system for monitoring imported goods in the Russian Federation has been launched in the country (see Kommersant of April 7). According to the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, trade between Russia and Kazakhstan increased by $2 billion in 2022, to $26 billion.

The Russian authorities legalized the supply of products without the permission of the copyright holder, or the so-called parallel import, in July 2022, after a number of vendors limited the supply of their products to the Russian Federation against the backdrop of sanctions, including Samsung, LG, Apple, Bosch, etc. imports, according to the government of the Russian Federation, amounted to almost $22 billion in 2022.

 “Due to the complexity of logistics, the cost of imported goods in the Russian Federation may increase by 10-12%,” suggests Mr. Vlastopulo. Kazakhstan's decision to block parallel imports to the Russian Federation also complicates deliveries from Uzbekistan, since cargo from this country crosses Kazakhstan, says Alexei Pogudalov, commercial director of Holodilnik.ru. According to him, due to the increase in the purchase price for imported household appliances, Holodilnik.ru has already reduced purchases of refrigerators, washing machines and built-in appliances from LG, Samsung, Bosch, Electrolux and other brands to a minimum. Mr. Pogudalov notes that the main deliveries of household appliances from these manufacturers came from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where the production of Samsung household appliances is also established. “Most likely, these brands will disappear from store shelves. Consumer demand has already shifted towards Chinese and Turkish household appliances (see Kommersant of November 18), and products purchased at a higher price from LG, Samsung, Bosch, etc. may simply be illiquid,” he said.

If Kazakhstan finally blocks the transit of supplies of equipment, then it will become unprofitable to transport goods intended for the EAEU market to Russia, since their cost for the end buyer will increase significantly, says a Kommersant source among distributors: “A large flow of large household appliances comes through Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan. Due to its large dimensions, its transportation is already expensive, and the closure of direct transit will only deepen this problem, as there are difficulties with money transfers to Uzbekistan.” In general, he believes, the ban on transit can lead to the fact that it will become unprofitable to carry goods of world brands as parallel imports, and the consumer will be left with Chinese goods that are officially delivered to Russia, or domestic brands.

Source: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5977754?from=glavnoe_1