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that the Russian fund will play the key role.
"We also plan to announce the creation of a joint fund with China in the aircraft industry in yuan next week. We believe that it will become an important joint fund between Russia and China where RDIF will play the key role," he said.
Moreover, a major Chinese agriculture holding plans to invest in a Far Eastern project related to processing of agriculture products together with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Dmitriev added.
"We developed not long ago and will announce soon a major project, meaning China’s investments jointly with us in a large agriculture project in the Far East. <...> We will announce the project next week, this being jointly with a major Chinese agriculture holding, which will be related to processing of agriculture products in the Far East," he noted.
9.1.4 Construction & Real estate sector news
The Moscow housing market saw a record-high buying activity in September 2022, 3Q23 and 9M23 as punters rush into housing market ahead of mortgage rate squeeze, RBC business portal reports citing Rosreestr data. The soaring banking activity could be attributed to the ongoing regulatory squeeze on state-supported discounted mortgages and the high interest rates expected throughout 2024. In 3Q23 the Moscow residential and non-residential property market saw 46,730 thousand contracts of participation (CDA) in construction in new buildings, making an absolute record and jumping by 52% year on year and 45% quarter on quarter, according to Rosreestr. In the housing market alone, 33,720 contracts were registered. For 9M23 overall, over 110,000 contracts are reported, up by 20% year on year, out of which housing contracts amounted to 79,540.
9.1.5 Retail sector news
After the last “abnormal” year for the emergence of new consumer brands, this year the pace of launching new brands of consumer goods in Russia has slowed down, but still remains above the pre-war levels. Despite the launch of new products, the range of cosmetics, household chemicals and children's products has decreased. Analysts believe that the process of market restructuring is just beginning. Over the eight months of this year, 7.3 thousand new brands were launched on the Russian consumer goods market, RBC writes, citing a study by NielsenIQ. This is 16% less than in the same period last year (8.7 thousand), but still noticeably higher than pre-war indicators (6.9 thousand new brands in January-August 2021). Last year was “abnormal” in terms of the departure and arrival of new brands in Russia; the assortment changed at an “incredible pace,” NielsenIQ notes. The
128 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com