Chinese carmaker Cherry has become the largest foreign company in Russia for the first time.
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Forbes magazine has compiled an annual rating of the 50 largest foreign companies in Russia by the end of 2023. The list includes companies that as of August 23, 2024 were owned by more than 50% by foreign companies or individuals. Experts estimate that the total revenue of the list participants for the year increased by 31% and exceeded 6.7 trillion rubles.
And the best results were shown by the Chinese car manufacturer Cherry, which for the first time became the largest foreign company in Russia. The automobile giant’s revenue increased fourfold by the end of 2023 and exceeded 590 billion rubles. The company has sold more than 220,000 cars on the Russian market under the brands Chery, Exeed, Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour.
“The list is interesting because it shows us in which areas we lack our own efforts,” Georgiy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Market Research at the Higher School of Economics, told kp.ru. – It is noteworthy that three of the top ten companies are representatives of the Chinese automobile industry. They dominate the Russian market and are accepted despite the price. In our country, these same cars cost one and a half, or even twice as much as in China. However, we buy them because there are no others. It would be more profitable for our economy to create joint automobile companies with China in Russia, rather than just making purchases.
This is not the first time that representatives of the global automotive industry have topped the Forbes list of the largest foreign company in Russia. In 2020 (based on the results of the previous year) it was the French Renault, in 2022 – the German Volkswagen Group.
But the results for retail chains are even better. Thus, from 2015 to 2019, the French corporation Auchan was in the lead, and in 2023, the French Leroy Merlin was in the lead. There was one case where the highest revenues were demonstrated by tobacco companies: the American Philip Morris in 2021.
10 LARGEST FOREIGN COMPANIES IN RUSSIA
Name Industry revenue in 2023, billion rubles Change compared to the previous year, %
Chery/Chery Cars Rus Cars 590.3 300.3
JTI Russia/JT Group Tobacco industry 480 11.4
FMSM/Philip Morris International Tobacco industry 440.2 10.1
PepsiCo Holdings, WBD/PepsiCo Food industry 338 11.3
Haweil Motor Rus/Great Wall Motor Cars 323,297.5
Auchan, Atak Trade/Auchan Retail 275.5 -4.8
Raiffeisenbank Finance 252.1 -7.1
Metro Cash & Carry/Metro Cash&Carry Trade 225.8 1
Nestlé Russia/Nestlé Food industry 210 7.7
Geely Engines/Geely Automobiles 199.6 221.1
Source: Forbes
