Car production capacity in Belarus unlikely to be utilized in full in 2017

In January 2017, 169 cars were assembled in the Minsk region at facilities with production capacity over 850 units a month. In 2016, 967 cars were sold on the domestic market and 4700 in Russia, taking into account the production volume of more than 10 000 cars. 4000 cars were not sold and placed on dealer lots. In 2017, car production is likely to decrease compared with 2016 due to the lack of growth in sales on the Russian market. The authorities are likely to apply administrative measures to stimulate car sales on the domestic market, for instance, they may prompt procurement orders for domestic passenger cars at the state administration bodies and public enterprises. In addition, Belarus may seek to sell her cars on markets outside the EEU, for instance, in Ukraine, which looks most promising. In 2017, Belarus will launch a small component assembly line, which will increase the production capacity to 60 000 cars, however, taking into account the car market situation, most of the new capacities will not be in demand.