OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2013. Premier Mykola Azarov stressed during the Government’s session held that there exists the need to technically restore powerful domestic industrial complex of agriculture machine-building.

According to him, in Ukraine there is a powerful industrial complex of agriculture machine-building: national enterprises produce tractors, combine harvesters, tillage, seeding, irrigation systems, modern milking complexes, equipment for food, processing industry etc. The domestic enterprises have developed and launched production of over 3.5 thousand of vehicles, production lines and aggregates.

There are more than 40 plants in Ukraine that have capacities for production of complex agriculture machinery. And over two hundred enterprises of other branches operate in synergy. For example, in the 90-th machine building of agroindustrial complex consumed 2 million 300 thousand tons of metal. It is comparable with the amount the national metallurgists have lost on external commodity markets. 

“Such capacities we possess. But they are morally outdated and partially depreciated. As a result national manufacturers lose competition under conditions of our open market,” Mykola Azarov explained. 

At this, he added the level of import of agriculture machinery was characterized by growing annually. Over the last three years its volumes increased from 607 million to 1 billion 300 million US dollars.

“There occurs an impression that this process is uncontrolled. Considerable share of the imported equipment is not new but that has been in use already. Whom should we thank for the fact that from 2008 Ukrainian market has been open for the equipment and technologies of “yesterday” so recklessly? When I ask directors of plants how many items they are producing nowadays, I hear in response the numbers which are not capable to satisfy not just the country, but even a huge agricultural area. This must be stopped. We must make a choice in favor of national but quality, up-to-date equipment,” the Premier opines.