IKEA will reduce its business in Russia by selling four factories and reducing the staff.

As stated in the company, the retail business of IKEA in Russia has been put on hold.

“Over the past few months, the situation with business processes and supply chains around the world has deteriorated greatly.

In view of this, we do not see the possibility of resuming sales in the foreseeable future.

As a result, the Inter IKEA group of companies and the Ingka group of companies have decided to reduce the scale of their business in Russia,” the company said.

Representatives of IKEA specified that such a decision would entail optimization, which, among other things, "will affect many employees."

The company also said that "to ensure the necessary business processes" the sale of household goods that are in warehouses will be organized.

Along with this, Inter IKEA in Russia will reduce the staff at its own production facilities and will look for new owners for its four factories, which are located in the Leningrad, Kirov and Novgorod regions.

Meanwhile, the governor of the Novgorod region, Andrei Nikitin, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, said that the employees of the IKEA plant in the region will retain jobs after its sale, the enterprise will continue to work.

According to Nikitin, Russian companies are already showing interest in buying production.

“We roughly understand who can be interested.

We currently have a huge shortage of highly qualified personnel.

People will definitely be in demand.

But in general, we understand that the asset will be preserved, the asset will work, but something will change in terms of ownership, ”TASS quoted the governor as saying.

Recall that IKEA in early March officially announced the suspension of activities in Russia and Belarus against the backdrop of events in Ukraine.

In early May, IKEA owner Ingka Tolga Onku told Reuters in an interview that employees of the closed stores would receive salaries until at least the end of August.

“A forced, but not entirely deliberate step”

Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov said that IKEA cooperated with at least 30 Russian suppliers.

According to him, if earlier the enterprises were focused on the production of furniture for the Swedish chain, then in the future they will be able to produce products under their own brand.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also stated that the department, together with the Ministry of Labor, intends to monitor the situation with the reduction of IKEA employees in Russia.

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“The company itself told us that it plans to pay compensation to employees in the amount of seven months of wages, which will support them during the period of adaptation and search for a new job,” he told RIA Novosti.

Commenting on the situation around IKEA, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade Vladimir Gutenev admitted that the departure of a number of brands familiar to Russians could cause some discomfort.

At the same time, the deputy expressed confidence that companies from other countries will occupy free niches in the future.

“I would not be very worried, because negotiations are already underway with a number of large manufacturers from East Asia, from Turkey, from Latin American countries.

Yes, some of their products are unusual for us, and the brands are unknown, but I think that Europeans who sacrifice the national economy to geopolitical ambitions will have to regret more, ”said the parliamentarian in an interview with RT.

He also called IKEA's decision "a forced, but not entirely considered step", which the company regrets.

“I am sure that in their plans they would like to return to the Russian market,” Gutenev believes.

In turn, Freedom Finance analyst Vladimir Chernov expressed confidence that IKEA factories in Russia would be quickly bought out and the production of new products would begin as soon as possible.

“Production from domestic materials can even lead to lower retail prices for final products.

A shortage of household goods may form on the Russian market for several months, which will cause prices for these products to rise, but in the future we expect them to decline, ”Chernov said in a comment to RT.