The Supply Volume of Iodine is Decreasing.

Till 2008 supply of iodine on the Russian market had been growing, in 2007 the supply volume equaled 415 tones.  From 2008 the supply volume of iodine began to decrease.  The maximal fall in the supply volume was registered in 2009: the supply volume went down by 16.5, compared to the previous year. In 2010 the supply volume of iodine decreased by almost 30 %, compared to 2007, and equaled 292 tons.

The lowering of the supply volume on the Russian market was subjected to several factors. Firstly, the changes in the market opportunities, which took place during the crisis, greatly affected the domestic iodine production. Despite the fact that the supply volume of iodine in Russia decreased much more than the demand volume, Troitsk Iodine Factory, which, according to the Federal State Statistics Service data, is the only iodine producer in Russia, curtailed production drastically because of the price development for the raw materials.

Secondly, it turned out to be impossible make up for the production volume, insufficient to meet the local demand for iodine, by means of import: in 2009 the import volume went down by 1.2%. According to BusinesStat analysis, the reason of the reduction of the iodine import deliveries was import price advance. During 2009 the average import price increased by 275%, compared to 2008: from 2.4 to 9.1 dollars per kilogram. In 2009, because of the devaluation of the ruble, the import price advance, in ruble terms, amounted to 379%, compared to the previous year.

Thirdly, the stock balance, which had been increasing till 2008, was being sold out in order to meet the domestic demand for iodine. At the end of 2007 the stock balance share equaled 36.4% of the iodine supply volume. By the end of 2009 the stock balance share had reduced to 20.5%.