Business news

MINSK, 9 December (BelTA) – The Belarusian-Chinese joint venture Midea-Horizont will start making water heaters and water coolers in H1 2016, BelTA learned from Zhanna Birich, Deputy Chairwoman of the Minsk City Executive Committee. The official visited the enterprise on 9 December.

According to the source, the Belarusian-Chinese joint venture will not limit its product range to microwave ovens. Plans have been made to master new kinds of merchandise. This year Midea-Horizont has been working on a new project to make water heaters, water coolers, and cooking tops. The Belarusian holding company Horizont and the Chinese corporation Midea signed the agreement on organizing the production of water heaters and coolers during the visit of China President Xi Jinping to Belarus in May 2015.

The pilot launch of the project to make water heaters and coolers with assistance of foreign process engineers and specialists took place in August 2015. As a result, the company’s readiness for making water heaters was confirmed. The manufacturing process is now being certified.

Zhanna Birich drew attention to the good economic performance of the Belarusian-Chinese joint venture. According to the source, the entire output is exported, with the sales profitability nearly as high as 12%. The average salary is close to Br7.8 million. “We see that the output is rising, there are plans to make new kinds of merchandise,” said the deputy head of the Minsk city administration.

In turn, Yuri Predko, Director General of OAO Managing Company of Horizont Holding, said that this year Midea-Horizont has been licensed to make products using Sharp, Bosch, and Panasonic brands. In his opinion, the step allows the company to increase profitability. Plans have been made to start making large appliances and push them to the international market, including the European Union. Horizont is intent on integration with international companies, he said. It will allow polishing the technology, design, and so on. “International manufacturing cooperation is vital. We are taking care of that,” stressed the Director General.

Speaking about prospects of the holding company Horizont in view of the global crisis, Yuri Predko noted that the company saw opportunities for growth in it. “There are two ways of doing business in crisis conditions — stagnation and development. We choose the second option. This year the Russian market of electronics has shrunk by a half. We have every chance of taking over the niche. We are united by the crisis, which shows us new ways of dealing with problems. The strategy, including China’s assistance, allows us to achieve that,” added the Director General of the holding company Horizont.

The Belarusian-Chinese joint venture Midea-Horizont is a limited liability company founded by China’s top manufacturer of household appliances Midea Group and one of the CIS’ top manufacturers of household appliances and electronics Horizont in 2007. Midea Group owns 55% of the shares, while Horizont owns 45%.

Midea-Horizont makes microwave ovens and sells them using such brands as Midea, Horizont, Vitek, Bork, Bimatek, Daewoo, Oursson, Sharp, Bosch, and Panasonic. Every year the enterprise has to pass technical audits by international companies to confirm the compliance of its technologies with world standards. The company can make over 1 million units of merchandise per annum.

Midea-Horizont has implemented a complete manufacturing cycle to make microwave ovens. It has its own divisions for presswork, welding, painting and assembly. The company uses state-of-the-art equipment such as a Gema (Switzerland) painting line, stamping dies, a welding line and an assembly line made in China.

Midea-Horizont is located in the free economic zone Minsk. It employs 156 people. As much as 80% of the output is exported to the CIS states, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and other ones.

The company is modernizing and will continue modernizing the equipment for the sake of improving economic performance, reducing energy costs, and reducing its environmental footprint. The company is intent on making new jobs. In particular, in 2014 Midea-Horizont changed the painting process technology. Instead of zinc-phosphates it now uses nanoceramics, which is more ecofriendly.