MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Next year, Russia plans to increase the production of neon to 180,000 cubic meters and satisfy almost 25% of world’s demand, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told a government meeting on Monday.

He also said that earlier on Monday, a full-scale production of high-purity neon gas, which is used in the production of microchips, was launched based at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

"As of today, over 30% of world amounts of neon-helium mixture are produced in Russia, but at the Bauman university site we plan to initially produce about 70,000 cubic meters of neon per year, which is about 10% of the global market. And next year we will increase production to 180,000 cubic meters. And we will be able to meet almost a quarter of the world's needs," said Manturov, who is also Deputy Prime Minister.

"In fact, we will replace the amounts previously supplied by two Ukrainian enterprises that are not operating now," he said. "As for neon, it is 10% (share in the world market - TASS) by the end of the year, and 25% - by the end of next year, the minister said. "And for xenon and krypton - it is also about 30%," Manturov added.

The new facilities will use Russian raw materials, he said.