Azerbaijan to increase car production by 2018
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan, the country which is developing its car manufacturing industry, has decreased the number of imported cars from Georgia, one of the main cars suppliers to the country.
Azerbaijan, which has increased the production of cars more than fivefold in the first eight months of this year, imported about 14,800 cars from Georgia in these nine months.
An export volume of cars in Azerbaijan decreased by 31.6 percent in terms of value and reached 18, 530 units (55.6 percent) in quantitative terms compared to the same period last year.
Some 33, 360 cars worth $303.12 million were exported in January-September 2013 from Georgia to Azerbaijan. This year, imported cars' worth fell to $207.2 million.
Azerbaijan holds the first place in the list of countries to which Georgia exports its products, and used to import cars delivered to Georgia from abroad.
However, with the shifting of Azerbaijan to the Euro-4 environmental standard since April, a significant decline of import has been recorded, as the standard restricts the import of used cars, which make up a large part of the cars imported from Georgia to Azerbaijan.
This may be a chance to enlarge the car production in the country. There are two plants for the production of motor vehicles in the country located in Nakhchivan and Ganja.
With the increase of car production this year (1,771 passenger cars in January-August), in 2013, 424 passenger cars were produced in Azerbaijan, which was 21.8 percent less than the same period in 2012.
However, overall a two-time increase has been recorded in comparison with 2005. In particular, from 2005 to August 2014, Azerbaijan has produced a total of 7,876 cars.
In addition, the State Statistics Committee reported 1,232,678 vehicles were recorded in the country in 2013. This year, some 47,984 vehicles were imported in Azerbaijan in January-October.
From this perspective, the number of vehicles produced in Azerbaijan makes only 0.6 percent of the total number of vehicles in the country.
To increase this number, Azerbaijan will increase its production of trucks by 32.6 percent by 2018, the government said. Thus, 305 units of vehicles will be produced annually instead of 230 units planned for 2014.
The country produced 246 trucks in 2013 and 161 in 2012. The government forecasts, the volume of truck production in the country will reach 250 units in 2015, in 2016 and 2017 is expected to stay on 300 units' production.
The increase is also expected to be made in production of trailers and semitrailers.
While in 2013, the country produced 23 trailers and semitrailers, this figure is projected at 26 units in 2014, 73 units in 2015, 105 units in 2016 and 2017 and 115 units in 2018.
Manufacturing of tractors is not expected to rise much in the country. Azerbaijan produced 739 tractors in 2013, in 2014 it is planned to produce 930 tractors, some 720 units is expected to be produced in 2015 and 2016, 710 units in 2017, and 730 units in 2018.
Azerbaijan's only manufacturer of trucks and tractors is Ganja Automobile plant, which is capable of assembling up to 1,000 trucks and 2,000 tractors each year. Currently, the plant is producing tractors Belarus and cars MAZ, as well as equipments for the tractors Belarus.