Miller Magazine Issue: 123 March 2020

18 NEWS MILLER / MARCH 2020 large producers of bakery products. These productions are in more favorable conditions compared to industrial en- terprises, as they have cheaper input raw materials and/or guaranteed sales of all produced volumes. Therefore, this segment has been developing rapidly in Russia for the past 20–25 years, has occupied a market share of up to 6 milli- on tons, and now although it has slowed down somewhat this process is still far from complete. Due to the disparity in the prices on the milling market, a significant number of unused production capacities and the unregulated development of small mills, the profita- bility of flour production in Russia has significantly dec- reased and does not exceed 5-6% for the most succes- sful enterprises. On average, profitability is 0,5%, which slowed down the development of the industry in terms of improving the industrial segment. Considering that about 30-40 years have passed since the large-scale renovation, reconstruction and moderniza- tion of enterprises, the industry is in urgent need of re-equ- ipment. A number of support measures have been taken at the state level in the country both for machine-building enterprises for the food and processing industry, and dire- ctly for mills. However, an increase in state support for the industry is required, including in the direction which will allow the industry to enter new markets. Over the past 20 years, the Russian Federation has taken a worthy place in the agricultural export market and beco- me the world’s number one wheat exporter. However, in terms of state support, the main focus is on grain exports, not on processed products. Over the past decade, Russian annual flour exports have fluctuated at no more than 200- 250 thousand tons, although production capacities allow increasing the volume to at least 2-3 million tons. Also, the development of exports may be affected by the harmonization of the regulatory framework of foreign count- ries with the technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), as the relevant domestic regulations are more stringent than in potential importing countries. Promising foreign countries that it is advisable to organize appropriate methodological support are the CIS countries, China, Mongo- lia, Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, and also North and Central Africa, including Iran, Egypt, Korea, and India. Unfortunately, there are no real projects in these regi- ons, although the implementation capacity is very high. In order to radically change the situation with the export of flour, it is necessary to begin to carry out state support for efforts in this direction of export at all levels.