Kazakhstan's automobile production in Jan-Nov shrank 22% - KazAvtoProm
ALMATY. Dec 21 (Interfax) - In January-November 2016, Kazakhstan's manufacturing of vehicles shrank 22% compared to the same period last year, KazAvtoProm - the Union of Kazakhstan's Automotive Industry - said in a press release.
During this period, 10,125 vehicles worth 61.5 billion tenge (334.79 tenge/$1) were assembled, including 8,157 cars (24.5% down from the same period last year), 1,431 trucks (up 8%) and 174 buses (down 10.8%), according to the press release.
The main factor in the fall in production was market activity decline. In January-November 2016, authorized dealers sold 38,800 cars against 88,400 cars sold in the same period of 2015 (down 56%).
However, the preliminary results of the second half of the year indicate a recovery for the industry. Thus, the decline in production slowed from 56% in January-June 2016 to 22% in January-November with Kazakhstan's major car maker, Ust-Kamenogorsk-based Asia Avto, showing production growth, assembling 2,369 vehicles in July-November this year or 44% more than a year ago.
In the reporting period, car sales in Kazakhstan amounted to 10,369 units with a 25.3% share of locally assembled cars against 17.6% in the same period last year while in November this share reached 31%.
Asia Auto takes the leading position in the segment of locally assembled vehicles with 5,859 cars sold or 56.5% of domestically assembled cars sold in total), followed by SaryarkaAvtoProm LLP with 3,063 vehicles (29.5% of total sales), Agromash in third place (479 cars or 4.6%), Hyundai Auto Truck & Bus is fourth (462 cars or 4.5%), KAMAZ-Engineering in fifth (337 or 3.3%) and SemAZ sixth (169 or 1.6%).
The top five best selling car brands assembled in Kazakhstan in January-November were as follows: Lada (2,507 cars), Kia (2,021), Hyundai (1,719), Skoda (761) and Chevrolet (570). The list of cars sold by local retailers also includes JAC (538 cars), Peugeot (426), Geely (407), Toyota (216) and SsangYong (115).
In January-November KazAvtoProm's enterprises contributed 61.5 billion tenge to the country's GDP and paid over 17 billion tenge in taxes, according to the press release.
KazAvtoProm, the Union of Kazakhstan's Automotive Industry, was established in 2015; enterprises with membership in this association account for more than 60% of the output of the country's automobile industry, 45% of the new car market and employ over 40% of staff working in the industry.