Azerbaijan plans to assemble Chinese tractors

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Azerbaijan, currently working to develop its car manufacturing industry and encouraging interior purchases within the country, now plans to arrange assembly of tractors produced by the Chinese YTO Group Corporation.

This is stipulated by the agreement signed between the Food Products' Procurement and Supply OJSC, the YTO Group Corporation and Aqrofun LLC, reports the article of Head of Azerbaijan’s company Abulfat Gojayev published on October 31 in the official press.  

 "We have reached an agreement on the launch of assembling Chinese tractors. As many as 800 tractors are planned to be assembled annually in the Gusar region. The project cost is estimated at $10 million," the article said.

The tractors will be leased out to local farmers with a low interest rate through Agroleasing OJSC. Farmers will pay 20 percent of the cost of equipment in advance, while the rest needs to paid within 10 years (120 months).

President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on establishing the Food Products' Procurement and Supply OJSC, which carries out purchase of food products considered for procurement from producers and sellers and delivers them to state enterprises and organizations, in April 2016.

Among main objectives of the company are stimulating production and processing of agricultural output, creation of a basis for the social wellbeing of population residing in regions of the country and engaged in agriculture, provision of centralized state purchases of food stuff, holding monitoring on each type of product, etc.

State organizations (law enforcement agencies, army, penitentiary system, social enterprises) currently procure food and agricultural products on the account of the state budget, while big volumes of financial means are allocated from the state budget to provide these state organizations with food stuff.  The establishment of the company allows directing the funds to local entrepreneurs. 

Moreover, most farmers were not able to sell their products, while the consumers were forced to pay expensive price for it, while the difference in prices, by which products are sold directly in the field and to the final consumer, is about 3-5 times. The decision is also aimed at elimination of the problem.

Over the past period, the company has established structural units in 12 regions and strongholds in 46 regions. As many as 1,919 contracts were concluded with purchasers financed from the state budget.

YTO Group is one of the leading Chinese manufacturers of agricultural machinery. The company was founded in 1955 and specializes in manufacturing a wide range of agricultural and road building machinery, various machines and vehicles.

Azerbaijan already has experience in assembling tractors. The Ganja Automobile Plant, established in December 2004, currently assembles ‘Belarus’ tractors and MAZ, KAMAZ and ‘Ural’ cars.

In addition to tractors and cars, the Plant manufactures various attachments for ‘Belarus’.  The equipment manufactured at the enterprise is issued with a guarantee for one year, as well as its high-quality service in all regions of the country.

Recently, the Plant and Belarusian MTZ-Holding signed a strategic cooperation agreement, which allows Azerbaijani enterprise to deploy production in Turkey. The document also allows for the export of Azerbaijani products to foreign markets.