1st Russian Business Forum on Building and Finishing Materials 2019 brought together leading industry experts

The development of the Russian building materials industry is the focus of attention of the Russian Business Forum on Building and Finishing Materials 2019: Chain Retailing, Markets, Developers opened at Expocentre Fairgrounds as part of RosBuild 2019 and the Russian Construction Week.

The Forum, which brought together leading analysts and the construction market actors, was organised by Imperia and Expocentre AO. Andrey Podlesnov, Imperia's Executive Director, thanked Expocentre for support in conducting the first forum and wished every success to the new sectoral project, RosBuild.

The participants in the Forum plenary session discussed strategic areas in the Russian building and finishing materials market. According to analysts, the market goes through tough times: rising raw material prices, reduced volumes, and developers and retail chains advancing their own limitations and rules. More than 30 sectoral experts answered the questions related to sales of building and finishing materials in the existing market situation.

Artem Andreichenko, GfK Rus analyst, emphasized the DIY market growth in the last two years for all product groups. According to him, consumers have been shifting to higher price brackets. The market has been driven by online trade. According to his forecasts, in 2019, the DIY market will grow by 8% in value terms and by 5% in absolute figures.

Construction markets and shopping malls account for about 30% of building and finishing materials sales, chain retail and DIY hypermarkets for another 30%, and developers for 40%. In Russia, online sales have been developed by more than 220 DIY chains, and many of them demonstrate impressive results. Specifics of online sales of DIY products was the theme of a special focus session of the Forum.

The RosBuild official website: https://www.rosbuild-expo.ru/en.

Press Service, Expocentre AO