As the Kommersant newspaper reported in Aigul Abdullina's article, "Drones do not reach Russia. China's restrictions have led to interruptions in the supply of drones and components," restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on the export of unmanned aerial vehicles have seriously complicated their supplies to Russia and led to a shortage of a number of components, such as thermal imagers. Major Russian drone manufacturers have managed to create substantial stocks and hope that their suppliers in China will be able to obtain export licenses to the Russian Federation, but registration may take up to a year. To do this, it is necessary to prove that the drone will not be used for military purposes. Sellers of Chinese drones in Russia are trying to establish parallel imports. However, some complain that Kazakhstan has recently tightened the import procedure.
(c) Vitaly Belousov / RIA Novosti
As Kommersant has learned, restrictions imposed by China on the export of drones since September 1 have led to the suspension of supplies of components and drones themselves weighing more than 4 kg. There is already a shortage of certain types, including agrodrons, which weigh an average of 30-40 kg and are still produced in the Russian Federation in single copies.
On July 31, the Ministry of Commerce of China announced the introduction of export controls on high-performance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can be used for military purposes.
As indicated in the explanations published by the Ministry, control of the supply of drones weighing from 4 kg or a maximum take-off weight of 7 kg with a flight duration of more than 30 minutes will be tightened for two years.
The list includes UAVs capable of "carrying cargo with a reset function or with the possibility of securing such a device." Also, the permission will have to be obtained by suppliers of multi- and hyperspectral cameras for drones (used, among other things, when shooting for agriculture and forestry). In addition, supplies of powerful onboard radio equipment, infrared cameras, thermal imagers, as well as laser ranging and positioning modules are limited.
To be able to export equipment, a Chinese supplier must obtain a license from the Ministry of Trade of the People's Republic of China and a permit from the customs service, including providing information about the final recipient. The Ministry of Trade checks the recipient for presence on the sanctions lists "related to military activities or actions undesirable for China," requests financial reports and corporate documents.
If a Chinese exporter violates the requirements of the license, he faces administrative liability, and in case of intentional violation - criminal. At the same time, the Chinese authorities prohibit the export of any drones, regardless of their characteristics, if they are used for military purposes. This circumstance, according to the market participants interviewed by Kommersant, led to the suspension of supplies even of those products that do not fall under the restrictions imposed.
Most of the major manufacturers of drones in the Russian Federation assured Kommersant that they had replenished their stocks of parts in advance even before the new rules came into force.
As explained in one of the companies, now they expect "to receive information about the supply of thermal imagers, there is no understanding by mid-September." Some of the interlocutors clarified that their suppliers are now trying to start obtaining licenses.
Consideration of applications and paperwork, according to Kommersant sources, may take from six months to a year, but there are already those who have succeeded. The permit is issued for six months with the right to extend, says Ramil Shevokhutdinov, founder of the representative office of the manufacturer of agricultural drones Jtilep in the Russian Federation, where they began to issue a license long before September 1. According to him, if during the validity of the license, the agrodron "somehow ends up in a combat zone, the supplier will turn it off and terminate the contract with the buyer," and the Chinese civil services responsible for the process will revoke the permit and block the supplier and the buyer company.
To speed up the process, Mr. Shevokhutdinov believes, buying companies can turn to intermediaries in other countries. But such a scheme increases the delivery time of equipment by several weeks and doubles the cost.
The rise in price also affects domestic manufacturers operating on a foreign component base.
A number of them are already warning their customers about the revision of prices by at least 20% due to changes in the exchange rate, says Tigran Israelyan, CEO of the security systems marketplace "Tech Keys.RF". The situation is really heating up, says Yuri Kozarenko, CEO of Transport of the Future (TB, the structure of Efko products manufacturer).
So far, TB "maintains normal relations" with Chinese suppliers and supplies are being processed before September 1. But the company has already felt the change in working with customs, treasury services and banks of the PRC: "It has become much more difficult to pass, fearing both cancellations of deliveries and possible inspections." The situation will improve when full-scale production of components is launched in the Russian Federation, Mr. Kozarenko believes, adding that the equipment needed for this has not fallen under restrictions.
Manufacturers in August exported wholesale everything they could, says Dmitry Datsykov, CEO of RuDrones: "Cameras, sensors, engine controllers, anti-UAV devices." Now they state that there will be enough reserves for one or two quarters. The prospects for further supplies, according to him, are not yet understood by either Russian importers or Chinese exporters, who do not want to take responsibility for the final recipients.
Other market participants note that establishing a screwdriver assembly of drones in the Russian Federation will take time and increase the cost of products.
Several interlocutors of Kommersant complained that regulators, in particular the Ministry of Industry and Trade, do not participate in negotiations with colleagues from China and do not contribute to the establishment of supplies. The Ministry of Industry and Trade "Kommersant" did not respond. A number of manufacturers and sellers in the Russian Federation noted that as stocks are exhausted, they hope for the possibility of ordering on Aliexpress, but there are no guarantees of their receipt yet.
Kommersant called about ten retailers of agricultural, monitoring and industrial drones, including Paragraf, Spb-geon, RusGeoCom, IQmac. In some cases, the products are missing or have remained in a piece quantity, prices have increased up to two times. For example, prices for the most popular DJI and XAG agrodrons in the Russian Federation, which left the Russian and Belarusian markets, almost doubled, but they continued to be imported through Kazakhstan.
The other day, according to three sellers, suppliers from Kazakhstan notified them of the termination of shipments due to stricter control over dual-use products. As a result, out of eight stores, two DJI Agras T30 remained in two. If in the summer the T30 with four batteries was offered for 1.8 million rubles . (currently out of stock), now the price for a set with three batteries is already 2.9 million rubles.
The situation is similar with Supercam hexacopters, which are used to create orthophotoplanes, monitoring and patrolling. Two sellers indicated that they no longer deliver them, three more dealers clarified that they were solving pre-order issues, but the timing is unclear. Two suppliers, who still have three drones, promised to publish prices after their "exchange rate revision". The most common DJI Mavic 3 drone weighing less than 1 kg, according to sellers, has risen in price by an average of 20% over the month, up to 250 thousand rubles.
Less than ten units remained in the warehouses of the five companies surveyed by Kommersant. They reported that they are in search of alternative supply channels. Another distributor announced the presence of at least a hundred Mavic in stock. According to the two sellers, they expect the delivery of small Autel Evo Nano monitoring drones, which are not formally subject to restrictions, but their suppliers in China are slow to ship.
