CLAAS signed a special investment contract with the Russian Federation that the company will be awarded the official status of “Russian manufacturer”, and will be eligible for the same state subsidies for its combine harvesters as local producers. Source: AFDJ eNews
An initial letter of intent was signed last November during the Agritechnica in Hannover.
“The Russian agricultural sector has a truly promising future. This contract now makes state-of-the-art agricultural machinery affordable for Russian businesse,” Lothar Kriszun, Spokesman of the CLAAS Executive Board said.
Demand for efficient harvesting technologies remains high. In Russia, only 72 million hectares of land are currently used for agriculture, although 122 million hectares would be suitable.
CLAAS also opened an additional production line at its Krasnodar facility in October 2015, which cost roughly €120 million.
The new production space is around nine times larger than the former factory, and now covers about 45,000 square metres. This means that production volumes will increase to as much as 2500 combine harvesters and tractors per year.
CLAAS started exporting second-hand machines through its first local dealers in 1992, later new machines. Then Russian employees followed, who were responsible for training and servicing.
In 2005 CLAAS became the first foreign manufacturer of agricultural machinery to maintain its own production facilities in Russia; some €20 million was invested at the time.
