OREANDA-NEWS. On 8 September 2009 was announced, that Minsk manufacturing enterprises reported substantial decreases in inventories in July and August, the head of the industry department with the administration, Alexander Trubilo, told reporters.

As of July 1, inventories were at 2.277 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br), but on September 1, they stood at 1.9 trillion rubles.

According to Trubilo, Minsk-based communal enterprises and independent companies have been able to meet the inventories target, at 62% in January-September.

The ratio of shipped commodities to output at Minsk enterprises was at 96.7% on September 1, up from 89.8% on July 1. MAZ reported an increase to 81.1% from 74.4%, Minsk Bearings Plant to 98.6% from 90%, MTZ to 99.4% from 97.3%, Minsk Motor Plant to 79.2% from 75.2%.

“We keep monitoring ten producers, including MAZ, MTZ, Atlant, Otiko, etc., on a daily basis, just like the Presidential Administration instructed us. Also, the administration has selected 13 producers to keep an eye on them – Milavitsa, Minsk Margarine Plant, Kommunarka, Motovelo, etc,” he said.

The administration has contracted purchases of 336 trucks and 38 buses from MAZ worth a total of 75.7 billion rubles. So far, 68 vehicles have been supplied.

Commenting on the situation with exports, the head of the foreign operations office with the Minsk administration’s economic department, Denis Yeremenko, said the global crisis and obstacles on the Russian market would not allow Minsk producers to reach last year’s production levels.

“We are doing better after June, adding 1-2 percentage points to our export growth, and we engage private exporters,” he said.

Yeremenko said it was necessary for Minsk makers to develop proprietary distribution networks, as many of them have lost traditional outlets to Chinese producers over the past 18 months.