In his words, preliminary negotiations on buying seven harvesters took place in France during the Belarusian-French-African business forum, which was dedicated to the presentation of the Belarusian mechanical engineering industry. Nigeria is a world top ten cotton manufacturer. This market has a lot of promise. “Anyway, we are also interested in markets of other Western Africa countries where cotton is grown everywhere. For instance, this spring we sold two cotton harvesters to Cameroon and trialed them. A demonstration seminar took place over there. Specialists from neighboring countries were also present,” remarked Yuri Rafeyev.
Gomselmash has recently stepped up operation in Africa. Contracts were signed to deliver vehicles for trials to Egypt, Sudan, and Cameroon. Negotiations were held with representatives of Tanzania and other countries. “A delegation from Zimbabwe visited Gomel several days ago. They are also interested in our machines. Certainly, it was only a fact-finding visit, but one has to bear in mind the fact that few people even knew about Belarusian harvesters in Africa as little as three years ago. We are now looking for mutually acceptable cooperation schemes together with Africa representatives,” stressed the executive.
The Belarusian holding company Gomselmash is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machines. It is one of the leaders of the world market of harvesters and other sophisticated agricultural machines. The Palesse brand is used to market grain harvesters and forage harvesters, ear corn harvesters and potato harvesters, mowers, and other agricultural machines. The Palesse lineup includes 16 types of agricultural machines, 75 basic models and modifications, 70 kinds of adapters and implements for harvesting various crops. Gomselmash products are exported to over 30 countries.