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This was the title of the panel at the 2nd Inlegmash International Industrial Conference at Russian Textile Week taking place at Expocentre Fairgrounds. It was held within a joint meeting of the Committee on Chemical Fibres, Yarns and Technical Textile Products of the Russian Union of Textile Industry Enterprises (Souzlegprom) and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs’ Commission on the Chemical Industry. 

Andrey Razbrodin, President of Souzlegprom, in his opening remarks called on the participants of the event to make specific proposals during the discussion to address existing problems for inclusion in a programme that would consist of two parts. The first is what needs to be done in the near future in terms of financial support, subsidy, regulatory measures as well as additions to modern logistics. And the second is the revival of intra-industry cooperation within the CIS countries. First of all, these are Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and others. There is also more work to be done with China, Andrey Razbrodin said. 

Representative of the Chemical Industry Department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade Anna Trofimova made a presentation on the draft Development Strategy for the Chemical and Petrochemical Complex for the period up to 2024 and for the period up to 2035. She cited Rosstat data, according to which the production volume of chemical fibres in 2021 amounted to about 223 thousand tons, import supplies of chemical fibres - about 301 thousand tons and export supplies - 38.7 thousand tons. The base version of the draft strategy assumed a 4.4-fold increase in production of chemical fibres and yarns by 2035 and a 3-fold increase under the conservative scenario. At the same time, it was assumed that consumption under the baseline scenario would grow by half, the share of imports in consumption would decrease from 63.5% to 21.3%, and the share of exports would increase from 17% to 19%.

Heads of enterprises producing technical textiles, which, according to experts, is one of the priority areas for the development of the entire textile and light industry in Russia, expressed their opinion on the current situation in the industry. 

According to the meeting moderator, Vyacheslav Savinov, Chairman of the Committee on Chemical Fibres and Yarns, Technical Textile Products, Executive Director of the Russian Union of Chemists, the proposals voiced during the discussion will be summarised in a final document and sent to the Russian Government.

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Today, the meeting “Cotton, linen, hemp, nettle or polyester? Raw materials security of the Russian textile industry”, organised by EXPOCENTRE AO, Souzlegprom and Roslenkonoplya portal, also took place. 

Explaining the stated theme, the moderator of the meeting, Oleg Kascheev, Assistant Rector of the Kosygin Russian State University, said: "We are looking at it much more broadly: not only as raw material security for the light industry, but for the entire economy of the Russian Federation. Such a large and powerful country as Russia must have its own raw materials base in order to realize the provision of its own industry with the necessary raw materials. This task is one of the most important at the present stage, because without raw materials none of us can produce anything". 

Speaking at the meeting, Yuri Krupnov, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Interregional Public Foundation for Support and Development of the Flax Industry 'Flax Union', drew colleagues' attention to the fact that our country has created an interesting sector of the last remodelling: design, fashion, tailoring. In his opinion, when some foreign brands are leaving today, new opportunities arise. But in doing so, the supply of raw materials is of paramount importance. 

Industry experts discussed in detail the use of hemp fibre and hemp itself as an ecological alternative to cotton. They exchanged opinions on what is realistic to produce in the current economic and geopolitical conditions, and how to supply Russian textile producers with raw materials.

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Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO