Russia's Car Production, Sales To Decrease By 15-30% In 2020 - Trade Minister

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2020) Russia's volume of car production and sales will see in 2020 a decrease ranging from 15 to 30 percent, it is currently hard to make more precise predictions, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Unfortunately, it will certainly decrease. We see it, and we estimate the reduction in the production volume and the market in general at 15-30 percent. It is difficult to make precise forecasts yet, but we understand how the situation will develop," Manturov said.

The minister expressed the belief that state support for the automotive industry, amounting to 25 billion rubles ($364.7 million), would significantly support the sector.

According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB), Russia's sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles dropped by 2.3 percent to 1.76 million prices in 2019. The Russian Federal State Statistics Service has said that cars production fell by 2.5 percent to 1.5 million pieces, while truck production decreased by 1.1 percent to 156,000 pieces.

In April, which was declared a non-working month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's automotive industry faced the largest monthly decrease in retail sales in the history of AEB's statistics collection. Sales crashed by 72.4 percent to almost 39,000 cars.