Mercury thermometers may soon disappear completely from sale in Russia, warned representatives of several pharmacy chains, distributors and marketplaces. They write about this on Thursday, December 30 “Vedomosti”…
The interlocutors of the publication claim that signed in 2013-2014 by 128 countries, including Russia, the Minamata Convention restricting the use of mercury in the home. However, Russia has not yet ratified the agreement. From 2020, the document prohibits the production, export and import of certain types of mercury-containing products.
China is the largest manufacturer of mercury thermometers in the world. According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), it accounted for 95.7 percent of mercury-containing thermometers imported to Russia in 2019 (no more recent data).
At the same time, Pharmacy Chain 36.6 reports that they have practically no mercury thermometers left. The Rigla pharmacy network complained that the system supply of thermometers had stopped since the first quarter of 2021 due to the closure of imports from China, the company was selling the remains of batches of mercury thermometers purchased earlier all year, and their stocks are already decreasing. The distributor of CV Protek said that he was also selling the remnants of mercury thermometers brought in last year, but there were no imports this year.
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According to DSM Group, back in 2020, mercury thermometers were the most popular in Russia, but already in 2021 their sales were halved. DSM analysts found that in the absence of a mercury thermometer in the pharmacy, consumers were buying digital thermometers this year.
According to Nikolay Bespalov, development director of the analytical company RNC Pharma, inexpensive thermometers will not completely leave the market, they will simply use a different composition (for example, based on alcohol). He believes that the production of mercury, electronic or infrared analogs in Russia will not appear, since there are not enough domestic components for their creation, and the assembly of Chinese components in our country is economically inexpedient. Therefore, Russia will also import these types of products.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said that the shortage of cars in Russia will remain in the first half of 2022 due to problems with the supply of electronic components, primarily chips. He added that the department is working with the electronics and microelectronic industries to address current problems.
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