Page 45 - RusRPTJul20

Despite the depressed demand and low exports manufacturers registered the strongest degree of optimism for five months as they pass through the bowl of the crisis. Hopes of further client requests and new customer acquisitions drove positive sentiment.
“Finally, the contraction in input buying eased in June, as some firms noted an uptick in purchasing following the reopening of many factories. Both pre- and post-production inventories were depleted further as companies used stocks to fulfil new orders and backlogs of work,” Siân Jones, Economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the Russia Manufacturing PMI survey, said.
4.3.2 ​Corporate profits dynamics
Corporate profits started to recover in April, the last month with available data,​ but profits are running at slightly over 50% less than 2019 in March and April on a cumulative basis.
However, the monthly profits show more encouraging signs. Corporate earned RUB961 in March and RUB1,547 in April. While the March figure was significantly down from RUB1,389 companies earned in March 2019, the April result was more or less on a par with April 2019 of RUB1,593.
As the cumulative profit chart shows, profits have started to recover by remain just below the recession year levels of 2016-2018 and are half those of the first year of strong growth in 2019. This crisis has undone much of the progress made in the one year of strong growth Russia enjoyed in 2019 until the next crisis hit.
45​ RUSSIA Country Report​ July 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com