The availability of durable refractory bricks has become a problem for the construction of masonry structures in Finland, so a local factory has developed a domestic equivalent of Russian bricks. The TV channel reported this Yle.
As the article states, Finnish masons note the strength of Russian refractory brick, which was widely used for fireplaces in Finland, at a relatively low cost.
After the introduction of sanctions, the import of bricks to Finland stopped, and local manufacturers faced problems because they could not find analogues with the same quality.
“Russian refractory brick was dense and strong. And new imported bricks have a lot of microcracks. I’m not very sure about their quality,” said Samu Toivanen, a bricklayer from Pieksämäki.
According to him, he managed to purchase two trucks of Russian bricks, but will soon have to look for an alternative.
Yle notes that while imports of Russian refractory bricks have declined, demand for heating fireplaces in Finland and Central Europe has increased sharply.
At the same time, the situation has become problematic, including for the Seppalan Tiili plant, where fireplaces are manufactured. As a result, the company was forced to develop its own analogue.
Earlier, on September 10, the European Commission confirmed an innovation in the sanctions legislation, within the framework of which Russians will no longer be able to enter the EU countries with cars registered in the Russian Federation – this will be interpreted as prohibited imports. Since September 16, in connection with Helsinki’s support for the European Commission’s recommendations on new sanctions, Finland has banned the entry of cars with Russian license plates. Cars with a capacity of less than 10 passengers will not be able to cross the border. Prior to this, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany introduced bans on Russian cars.
On May 1, it became known that the monthly level of exports and imports of goods between Finland and Russia fell to the lows of the 1990s. According to statistics, at the beginning of 2022, Finland imported Russian goods worth over €1 billion, and exports amounted to almost €380 million. By the end of the year, monthly imports fell to €150 million, and exports fell to €140 million.
On March 2, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported that the total losses of several large Finnish companies after leaving the Russian market exceeded €4 billion. The largest losses were suffered by the energy company Fortum, the construction company YIT was in second place in terms of losses, the newspaper clarified.
The sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation intensified against the backdrop of a special operation to protect Donbass, the beginning of which was announced by Head of State Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022.
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