Finnish companies massively leaving Russian market

The Finnish companies have massively been leaving the Russian market since March 2022.

“Since March this year, YIT developer, the largest Finnish cooperative association ‘S-Group’, the Finnish state railway company ‘VR Group’, ‘Kemira’, the Finnish food industry company ‘Atria’ and the timber industry company ‘Stora Enso’, the Finnish state energy company ‘Fortum’, have announced their intention to leave the Russian market, as well as ‘Valio’, ‘Fazer’, ‘Nokian Tires’, ‘Paulig’ and ‘Hesburger’," the Russian paper Delovoy Peterburg wrote.

The newspaper writes that Tikkurila, due to the deteriorating economic situation and disruptions in supply chains, has reduced the scale of its operations in the country.

“Investments are currently suspended, we sell a basic range of goods in Russia. In 2021, the share of the Russian market was about 1 per cent of total sales,” said Mikhail Tikhomirov, CEO of PPG Tikkurila in Russia.

Delovoy Peterburg notes that the trend for Finnish companies to leave Russia was observed even before February 2022.

According to the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg, in 2013, about 950 Finnish companies, including subsidiaries, were registered in Russia. By late 2021, only about 300 remained.