Business news

19 Nov 2020

Belarusian MTZ triples export to Africa

An archive photo

MINSK, 19 November (BelTA) – The Belarusian tractor manufacturer MTZ has tripled export to Africa, the company’s press service told BelTA.

In January-October 2020 the sales growth rate amounted to 348.2% in comparison with the same period of last year. Cash inflow more than doubled. The company has penetrated two new markets this year – Zimbabwe and Burundi, BelTA learned from Aleksei Trich, the company’s Deputy Marketing Director for Commerce on Non-CIS Markets, Head of the Non-CIS Promotion and Sales Office.

In line with the cooperation roadmap signed with the Egyptian Defense Industry Ministry in February 2020 the company intends to start assembling tractors and engines at premises of Helwan Diesel Engines Company. The localization rate is supposed to reach 40% in the next three years. The Egyptian side has received standard documentation for setting up an assembly enterprise able to make 500 units of equipment and a list of the necessary equipment and tools.

MTZ will also prepare and hand over standard documentation for setting up an assembly enterprise able to make 10,000 units of equipment per year focusing on MTZ-90/92/820 models. “We are now reconciling terms of the license agreements and are working on shipping tractor assembly kits without engines and on buying engines from the Minsk engine plant MMZ,” the executive explained.

This year the company has considerably increased tractor shipments to Sudan – up to 510 units from 153 units in 2019. MTZ operates on the Sudanese market within the framework of an exclusive agent agreement signed with MIG Agricultural Company Ltd. “Our partners honor their commitments with regard to purchase volumes and timely payments,” Aleksei Trich noted.

MTZ started cooperating with MIG in 2003. Since then the partner has received about 2,520 MTZ tractors. The company has SSMO certificates, which are necessary for importing vehicles and machines to Sudan, for five main MTZ tractor models. MIG Agricultural Company Ltd sells 80% of the MTZ tractors via a preferential lending program to local farmers with assistance of various banks, including the Agricultural Bank of Sudan.

MTZ is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of agricultural machines. Apart from the main factory the holding company MTZ comprises nine enterprises. As many as 26 assembly enterprises have been established abroad. The manufacturing division employs over 17,000 people. MTZ products are represented in over 60 countries.