The capacity utilization of companies in Russia’s automotive industry declined from 50% to less than 30% after two months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. It reported that automobile production fell by 60.2% year-on-year in April 2020. The main reasons for the decline were the suspension of operations by automobile plants because of non-working days in the country during the pandemic period, disruption of the delivery of imported components and falling demand. The minivans segment suffered the biggest losses in the commercial transport sector, according to GAZ Group, while plant capacity utilization fell more than twofold in June 2020 on an annualized basis.
