The Number of Unprofitable Industries in russia Has Risen Sharply

In the first seven months of 2026, one in three large and medium-sized companies in russia reported losses. The share of unprofitable organizations rose to 33.4%, while  the number of industries in which losses exceeded profits nearly quadrupled – from three to 11.

Last year’s loss-making sectors – coal mining, passenger transportation, postal and courier services – have been joined this year by metallurgy, wood processing, logging, automobile manufacturing, sand, chalk, and salt extraction, finance and insurance, sports and entertainment, libraries and museums.

The worst situation was in the metallurgy sector. Corporate losses exceeded profits by 269 billion rubles. In the finance and insurance sectors, this figure stood at 247 billion; in the coal industry – at 178 billion; and in ground passenger transportation – at 55 billion. In the automotive industry, losses also exceeded profits by nearly 4 billion rubles.

At the same time, businesses are facing high borrowing costs, rising wages, and increased fuel and transportation expenses. The VAT increase has added to production costs, while weak demand limits the ability to pass these costs on to consumers.

Financial results of individual companies confirm that the situation is worsening. In the first half of the year, “severstal” reported a net loss of 4.7 billion rubles, compared with a profit of 43.6 billion rubles a year earlier. For the same period, “mmk” reported a loss of 19 billion rubles, compared with a profit of 5.6 billion rubles a year earlier.