TCL stopped producing TVs in Russia

2024: TCL halts TV production in Russia

On August 1, 2024, it became known that the Chinese company TCL announced the termination of the supply of components for assembling TVs to Russia. This decision was made in connection with the threat of secondary sanctions from the United States and the EU. Production at the Voronezh Kvant plant, which was one of the brand's contract manufacturers, has been completely stopped.

According to Kommersant, Chinese electronics manufacturers such as TCL and Xiaomi are now considering moving production to Kazakhstan. However, this can lead to a rise in the cost of products by 10-20% due to increased logistics costs. Sources of the newspaper also said that Russian factories have a stock of components for assembling TVs until November, after which some companies may suspend production, which could cause a shortage of devices.

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Tcl.com

According to SPARK-Interfax, Kvant LLC was registered in Moscow in 2016. The plant in Voronezh, with an area of ​ ​ 54 thousand square meters. m, is the main place of production. Among the main customers of the enterprise are companies such as DNS, BBK and Merlion. In 2023, the number of personnel exceeded 1 thousand people.

For seven months of 2024, 5.6 million TVs were sold in Russia in the amount of 163 billion ₽, which is 25% and 48% more than the same period last year. Xiaomi TVs occupy 10% of the Russian market, and TCL - 6%.

Kirill Skvortsov, director of strategic development at the STI Group contract plant, confirmed that TCL has stopped supplying components for its devices. According to him, TCL chose cooperation with the US and EU markets because of their larger volume. Skvortsov also noted that problems with payment through Chinese banks remain. The stock of components for assembling TVs at the enterprise will be enough until November 2024.^[1]

2023: Russian "Quantum" launched the production of TCL TVs

The leading Russian contract manufacturer of household appliances "Quantum" has begun assembling televisions of the Chinese brand TCL at its sites in Zelenograd and Voronezh. This became known in early June 2024 from the declarations of the EAEU, where the Russian division of TCL (LLC Tiesel Rus) is indicated as a manufacturer, not an importer.

According to Kommersant, earlier TCL TVs were also launched by another Russian contract company, STI Group, moving production from the Kaliningrad region to the Moscow region. Director of Strategic Development of STI Group Kirill Skvortsov clarified that from the beginning of 2023 the group began to assemble equipment under the TCL brand.

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TCL Corporation

Production includes soldering boards, assembling TVs, setting up and checking, he said.

According to Kommersant, TCL itself in 2023 ranked third in terms of TV deliveries in the world with a market share of 13.3%, behind only Samsung and Hisense. At the same time, the bulk of the company's revenue (86%) was brought by models with a large diagonal - from 65 inches.

Larisa Senina, director of Marvel Distribution, stressed that in Russia, in January-May 2024, TCL controlled 6% of the TV market in monetary terms and 4% in piece terms, and the brand's share in more expensive segments, for example, in TVs with a diagonal of 55 inches, is approaching 10%.

She clarified that the localization of TCL production in Russia will affect only models with a diagonal of up to 55 inches, which will reduce the cost in the lower price segment by optimizing logistics and financial flows.

According to Content Review editor Sergei Polovnikov, having issued a Russian legal entity as a manufacturer, TCL will be able to perform service support for products and respond to the law on consumer protection. In the future, the company may acquire a Russian production site.^[2]

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