Versta, a producer of outdoor garments based in Novgorod, announced plans to build two factories in Russia, one to produce woven fabrics and another to produce nonwoven fabrics. The company has been importing those items from China, but supply disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the company to embark on its new projects. As of today, the share of imported raw materials used in its manufacturing process is between 90 and 95 percent. Vitaly Ivanov, owner of Versta, said the new project would require a lot of work, but the company expects to see its effectiveness in monetary terms at some point. Versta is not the only company considering import-replacement schemes in Russia these days, said Roman Makarenkov, commercial director of the Moscow-based think tank Dewio Logistics. The same trend took place during the monetary crisis of 2014, when supplies were also temporary disrupted as the Russian ruble lost some of its value against hard currencies, although the import-replacement wave in the Russian economy petered out in less than a year.

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