By Olga Andrutskaya, Lakokrasochnye Materialy i Ikh Primenenie (Russian Coatings Journal). Import substitution is a vital issue for Russian industrial paint makers, as coating imports in some end-user spheres break all records. In 2016, following a 2-year downward trend, coatings production picked up, with volumes higher than in 2015. However, they barely matched the 2012 level (see Table 1) and so technically this cannot be counted as growth. Industrial growth in 2016 was 1.1% compared to 2015, and boosted industrial paints production by 4.5%. The decorative coatings sector is recovering more slowly, ...