What Products & Services Is Singapore Buying From Russia?

Какие товары и услуги Сингапур покупает в России?

Singapore is the service centre and financial hub for the ASEAN region, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand & Vietnam.

These countries enjoy free trade between each other, meaning subject to rules of origin regulations, production in one country can be exported, duty free, to the other.  ASEAN also has Free Trade Agreements with China and India. This means, given the right circumstances, a Russian-owned manufacturing entity could export, duty free to these additional markets.

Singapore also signed off a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union last year,  meaning Russian businesses should be starting market research activities into the opportunities in this market now.

Singapore is a good choice for a developing trade and services partner for Russia, it has one of the largest per capita income levels in the world at US$65,000, and a population base of 7 million. It is therefore a relatively small, yet wealthy consumer market, with the additional benefit of being an ASEAN services centre. Statistics from Santander on this can be found here and Neilsen here It should be noted that Singapore is very much a digital economy, although mall shopping is still highly popular. 

Current Russian trade trends with Singapore are also on an upwards path, as we can see in these statistics courtesy of Trading Economics (figures in millions of US dollars) and grew steadily during the course of 2019.

Singapore has also been the main port of call for Russian MNC’s looking to establish an Asian regional HQ for future regional development. We previously discussed this in the article The Singapore Advantage For Russian Investors .

It is worth noting that Russia also has a Double Tax Treaty with Singapore, which if used correctly can reduce profits taxes for Russian entities based in Singapore. Professional advise should be sought.

In terms of exports to Singapore, Russia currently sells a variety of products, ranging from oil and gas to fertilizers and automotive parts. A breakdown can be seen here.

It should be noted that there are Quality Control standards differences between Russia and ASEAN nations, and Russian exporters should be aware of these. We covered this in the article Quality Control Challenges For Russian Exporters To ASEAN.

Our practice, Dezan Shira & Associates, has offices in Singapore and are familiar with the protocols concerning import/export and can advise on local market conditions. Please contact Maria Kotova at russia@dezshira.com for assistance both with local market intelligence and business plan development in addition to corporate establishment, tax advisory and on-going corporate compliance in Singapore.

Related Reading

• Russia-Singapore Trade and Joint Investment on the Up in 2018
• An Introduction to Doing Business in Singapore 2019
  An Introduction to Doing Business in Singapore 2019 provides readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Singapore and outlines the city-state’s role as a trading hub within ASEAN.