GOMEL, 16 April (BelTA) – The agricultural machinery manufacturer Gomselmash has mastered the production of over 820 import substitutes over the course of ten years, BelTA learned from the company's Director General Aleksandr Novikov at an exhibition-seminar on import substitution.
According to Aleksandr Novikov, global manufacturing cooperation chains have started decaying in the current conditions. It is necessary to switch to a shorter manufacturing cycle inside the country. Many European countries are doing it. “Virtually all the Gomselmash products are import substitutes. Nobody else in Belarus makes them. We offer the entire range of agricultural machines that virtually every farmer needs depending on the configuration of their fields. The output of import substitutes Gomselmash made for Belarusian consumers in 2011-2020 can be evaluated at $592 million. If these machines had been imported, they would have cost $1.2 billion. The economic effect is substantial,” the executive remarked.
Gomselmash started making 832 import substitutes in the last ten years, saving $133 million. The new products include a number of hydraulic equipment parts, rubber parts, interior and exterior parts of the driver's cab, some rolled metal products, and other things.
A strategy to guide Gomselmash's development till 2030 has been adopted. It provides for modernizing standard models of agricultural machines and revising their options. “In the past we used to make a basic model and add options to it. Now we offer the full package, which can be downsized. If the customer wants a full package, we make it. If the customer wants a minimal package, we will consider our options. The strategy provides for serious import substitution efforts,” the director general noted. For instance, today the company assembles four grain harvesters and five forage harvesters at the same time. Their production is partially determined by deliveries of imported components. The production of import-substituting parts could resolve certain issues in that regard.
Gomselmash is the main supplier of grain and forage harvesters in Belarus. Gomselmash products are also exported. Along with deliveries to traditional markets the geography of shipments is expanding to include African countries, Brazil, Argentina, and other ones.
The Belarusian holding company Gomselmash is one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machines. It is one of the leaders on the world market of harvesters and other sophisticated agricultural machines. Gomselmash harvesters are used in fields of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, China, South Korea, and Baltic states. Gomselmash operates an extensive distribution chain and runs joint ventures and assembly factories.
