BelAZ ups automotive exports 42% in H1
MINSK. Aug 4 (Interfax) - OJSC Belarusian Automobile Plant (BelAZ) increased product exports 41.9% year-on-year in January-June 2011, the company told Interfax.
Exports represented 95% of total product shipment in H1, and went to more than thirty countries.
Exports to Russia accounted for most product shipment in H1, with exports to the country increasing 43.7% year-on-year. Shipments to other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States rose 25.2%. Exports to non-CIS countries grew 49.5%.
Company sources said that BelAZ for the first time shipped two heavy-duty dump trucks (220-tonne carrying capacity) to Kazakhstan in the first half of 2011. Dump trucks (130-tonne capacity) were also for the first time shipped to the Republic of South Africa, to Chile (55-tonne capacity), and a wheeled bulldozer to Bulgaria.
The company also reported that BelAZ had recertified 13 of its service centers around the CIS and elsewhere in January-June and opened a new one in the Russian city of Prokopyevsk at an authorized BelAZ dealership. Work to expand servicing not only drove an increase in finished-product exports, but also increased the volume and range of spare parts. Parts, component, and detail sales increased 70.3% in H1.
BelAZ is looking to substantially increase product exports to non-CIS countries this year, particularly increasing them to Asian markets. The company plans to increase shipments to Iran by 90% and to Mongolia by more than 370%. Contracts have been secured with Venezuela, and the possibility of delivering 220-tonne dump trucks is being worked through.
Belarusian Automobile Plant specializes in the making of large and ultra-large dump trucks, as well as other heavy-duty transport vehicles used in the mining and construction industries. BelAZ was reorganized into an open stock company wholly owned by the government in 2009.
The Belarusian government has more than once announced its intention for a BelAZ IPO on international stock markets. That could well happen before the end of this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Semashko said.
