Business news

21 Jan 2021

Minsk Bearing Plant penetrates German market

An archive photo

MINSK, 21 January (BelTA) – Minsk Bearing Plant (MPZ trademark) has penetrated the German market. In September 2020 MPZ won a tender to supply four bearings for mine fans to the company Ventprom Deutschland GmbH. These bearings were shipped to the customer on 21 January, BelTA has learned.

Yelena Vaskina, Head of the Foreign Economic Ties Department at MPZ, said: “Our traditional European markets are Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. The countries that are close to Belarus due to objective reasons. The European Union protects its manufacturers rather heavily. All the products, which are imported to the European Union, are subject to an 8% import duty, which makes prices for our bearings unprofitable. The existence of multiple bearing plants in the European Union that offer the same product range is another limiting factor. Yet despite tough competition the exacting German consumers opted for the Belarusian product. In September 2020 MPZ won a tender for the delivery of four 30-3680AMXHУ2 bearings for mine fans. The contract’s price is €55,300.”

The MPZ trademark has earned good reputation on foreign markets. Consumers all over the world know that MPZ stands for quality. Multiple tests have demonstrated that MPZ bearings are as good as those made by the world leaders, for instance, SKF (Sweden). “Our competitive advantage is that we take care of all the steps the production of bearings involves. We also offer an optimal value for money. This is why we made an offer to the German side, which fully satisfied them,” the executive stressed.

MPZ exports over 75% of its output, with the share of non-CIS states close to 16% of the shipments. Spherical roller bearings are the staple product MPZ exports to non-CIS states. The product is competitive, enjoys a solid demand, and has earned a good reputation. The company also offers double-row spherical roller bearings, which are used in mining, metallurgy, cement industry, and other branches of the production sector. Other types of bearings enjoy smaller demand and their export has yet to reach mass levels.

From the point of view of the volume of sales, the top buyers of MPZ bearings are India, Iran, Vietnam, the UAE, and Egypt. MPZ also cooperates with partners from Europe by selling bearings to Latvia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria.

The company is intent on increasing non-CIS sales. Efforts are being poured into search for new clients, participation in tenders, advertising, and work with distributors. The coronavirus pandemic has delivered a blow to the economy of all countries across the globe. “Our consumers have started very seriously counting their money. More often than not MPZ bearings are bought to fix broken equipment. Nobody wants to freeze money in warehouse stock. Nevertheless, MPZ is an internationally recognized brand,” Yelena Vaskina explained.

In 2021 MPZ’s main goals for non-CIS markets will include efforts to preserve, increase, and step up volumes of cooperation with existing partners in addition to finding new clients and end consumers.

Minsk Bearing Plant was founded in 1948. It is one of Belarus’ top ten enterprises and is a leading manufacturer of bearings in Eastern Europe and the CIS. The company employs about 2,000 people. The choice of bearings marketed under the MPZ trademark includes over 600 models and ranges from bearings with the diameter of 10mm and weight of 19g to giant bearings with the diameter of 980mm and weight of up to 880kg. Nowadays MPZ products are sold to over 20 countries across the globe. The main consumers are mechanical engineering enterprises, mining enterprises, metallurgy enterprises, power engineering enterprises, civil engineering enterprises, oil and gas industry, and defense industry.