ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Russian reporter Oleg Popov from Cristanval cleaning company reviews latest sector statistics.

In 2009, the Russian cleaning market reached one billion dollars in volume.  Based on figures from marketing research done by the DISCOVER Research Group, between 2010 and 2012, that volume practically doubled.

Growth in the market is due to increased demand for cleaning services in adjacent areas, as well as an increase in demand for different types of chemical cleaning.  An important component is the growth in the number of serviceable properties due to an increase in retail space.

Today in Russia there are over 1,000 cleaning companies. In Moscow and St Petersburg alone, there are roughly 350 firms, 10 of the largest are actively expanding regionally. According to analysts there are five major players in the cleaning market.  In terms of value, 25 per cent of the market is held by those companies.

The top five Russian cleaning companies are listed as: Facilicom Group (brand Chistyi Svet), Ronova Group,Cristanval Cleaning, OMS Cleaning and CleanStar Group.

The market itself can be divided into four main sectors according to the type of space serviced: office, retail, service and industrial. One of the most promising and growing sectors is industrial cleaning.  In recent years retail cleaning as a sector has significantly increased and has reached roughly 30 per cent of the overall volume of the market. The majority of clients are owners of office, retail and industrial real estate.

The percentage of income among cleaning companies from services provided to these clients is 60 per cent, while the percentage of overall  demand for professional cleaning services nears 80 per cent.

2012 was marked by several important events which will impact the market in coming years. First, bidding ended for services during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. Secondly, bidding was held for cleaning and waste removal services for the 146 Moscow Metropolitan stations.  We will discuss these events in more detail in the next edition of ECJ.

During the last year, the need for the creation of a regulatory framework has increased, while personnel issues have worsened. In the cleaning market the tendency remains towards the technological improvement of services and the introduction of a wider spectrum of more specialised work.  For larger cleaning companies, an interesting prospect remains the development of related sectors: building engineering, maintenance, landscaping, and provision of temporary staff.

Between 2013 and 2015 stable, significant growth in the market can be expected, as much as 30-40 per cent a year.  At the same time cleaning has the potential to break through into new sectors such as city utilities systems and medical institutions.