Business news

“The first stage of the project by MAZ and the Chinese company Zoomlion to set up joint production of a wide range of special-purpose machinery, such as road-building, construction and municipal vehicles, is currently underway in Mogilev. The first pilot batch of products, including 40-tonne and 60-tonne truck cranes and a road-cleaning vehicle, has already been manufactured. The vehicles have MAZ chassis,” the ministry explained.

“During the first stage of the project, the vehicles were assembled from Chinese sets delivered to the plant by train. Our further plans are to test the vehicles, obtain product certificates complying with national and Customs Union standards, draw up localization plans, and also develop and approve the product lineup of the joint enterprise,” the ministry added.

The Belarusian Industry Ministry stressed that the plans for the future include the use of MAZ chassis as the base chassis and also the expansion of Zoomlion’s lineup of cranes with new 40-tonne and 60-tonne models.

The joint investment project is implemented as part of the Belarus-China strategic partnership. Belarus’ Industry Minister Vitaly Vovk visited the enterprise in Mogilev and noted that the cooperation with Zoomlion will help the Belarusian company expand its product lineup and allow Belarus to get know-how in new fields, resolve matters of import substitution, and explore new promising markets.

Zoomlion is a multinational company, the largest manufacturer of equipment in the areas of agriculture, construction, power engineering, and transport in China. The company ranks among the world’s best in two business segments: concrete machinery and hoisting machinery. Zoomlion has subsidiaries in more than 40 countries around the world, as well as marketing and research institutes creating value for customers in more than 80 countries.

Minsk Automobile Plant was founded in 1944. In 2009 it was reincorporated into the public joint-stock company (OAO) MAZ. In 2012 OAO MAZ became the management company of the holding company BelavtoMAZ. The holding company comprises ten enterprises that employ about 30,000 people. The holding company makes truck tractors, dropside trucks, medium-capacity automobiles, dump trucks, log trucks, short log trucks, cross-country vehicles, chassis fit for special equipment. MAZ offers over 500 models and modifications of trucks as well as 17 base models and about 100 modifications of passenger vehicles.