Business news

MINSK, 3 October (BelTA) – A Belarusian-Indian joint assembly facility for Palesse grain harvesters, which will open in 2018, will roll out 50 vehicles per annum, BelTA learned from Yuri Rafeyev, Head of the Non-CIS Sales Office at the Belarusian agricultural machines manufacturer Gomselmash.

In his words, at first the joint venture will be located in leased premises in a suburb of Delhi. The share of local content shall make up at least 40% in accordance with the agreements. The offices and a permanent exhibition of Belarusian vehicles will be situated at the same place. “A large-scale expo will be held in India in December 2017. We are going to present the grain harvester KZS-575 to be assembled by the joint venture, and also the forage harvester KSK-600. We will showcase it after pre-sales preparation,” Yuri Rafeyev remarked.

There are two grain harvest campaigns a year in India. The first one takes place from late March to May, the second one in October-November. This is why Gomselmash plans to deliver some other similar grain harvesters to the country to demonstrate the vehicles’ capacities during wheat harvest.

Today the potential of India’s market is estimated at some 4,000 new combine harvesters a year. These are usually economy-class vehicles designed for small fields. “The KZS-57 grain harvester fills such a gap in the line-up of Gomselmash models. As far as we know, a Western European combine harvester manufacturer sells about 1,000 units of this class in India. This is why we view this market as very promising,” Yuri Rafeyev noted.

The Belarusian holding company Gomselmash is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machines in the world. The company offers grain harvesters and forage harvesters, ear corn harvesters and potato harvesters, mowers, and other agricultural machines. The Palesse brand is used to market 16 types of agricultural machines, 75 basic models and modifications, 70 kinds of adapters and implements for harvesting various crops.