These sanctions prompted Russia to search for alternative markets to fill the need for mobile phones, cars and electronics, and quickly found that in China’s factories..
Phone market and seize the opportunity
Industry data shows that smartphone giant XiaomiXiaomi Carmaker Geely is among those that have seen an increase in sales in recent months in Russia.
iPhones, Galaxy and Samsung were once the best-selling devices, controlling 53% of Russian market sales before the war, but the sanctions brought these brands to 3.%.
While China used to account for 40% of the total smartphone market in Russia, it now owns about 95% of this market..
Jan Strijac, associate director of Counterpoint Research specializing in mobile market analysis, says that Xiaomi, Realme and Honor, the budget brand formerly owned by Chinese tech giant Huawei, “reacted quickly to seize the opportunity,” with shipments to Russia increasing by 39%, 190% and 24%. respectively in the third quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter.
Auto jump and Chinese happiness
During the war year, Chinese automakers Chery and Great Wall Motor jumped into the top 10 of Russia’s passenger car brands, while Germany’s BMW and Mercedes vans disappeared, according to data from Standard & Poor’s, an official auto-sales monitor..
According to data provider Autostat, Russia has bought a large number of Chinese cars this year.
It said in a report last month that sales of new Chinese cars in the country rose 7% in 2022 to 121,800 even as the market collapsed..
Lada, a domestic brand that was already the most popular automaker in Russia before the war, has seen its market share grow from around 22% to 28% in 2022..
“The West has left a big gap in the market, and the Chinese are happy to fill that gap,” said Tu Lu, founder of Beijing-based Chinese consulting firm Auto Insights, in remarks.“.
The decline of the Russian market
Although Chinese brands are reaping the benefits of Western blockades, the Russian market is shrinking with the downturn in the economy.
Last year, Russian smartphone sales fell 33% to 21 million, according to research by Counterpoint. By comparison, the European smartphone market fell by 20%..
The performance of the car market in Russia is even worse. As it decreased by about 60% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
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