The leading manufacturer of bentonite clay in Azerbaijan, LLC AzRosPromInvest has restored profitability after a loss-making activity in 2014, after the increase in railway tariffs and the depreciation of the Russian ruble.
"We have achieved a certain increase in sales, changes in the currency structure of contracts with customers, resulting in achievement of a certain profitability," Deputy Finance Director of AzRosPromInvest, Chairman of the Board of JSC Dash Salahli Bentonit Yashar Gurbanov told Turan.
According to Gurbanov, the main buyers of Azerbaijani bentonite clay and bentonite powder are the enterprises of oil and metallurgy in Russia and Belarus. In Azerbaijan bentonite is purchased by SOCAR. Foreign oil companies buy bentonite in drilling operations abroad.
For five months of 2015, Azerbaijan produced 7,425 tons of bentonite, which is 67.4% less than in the same period in 2014. According to the State Statistics Committee, the warehouses of enterprises have accumulated 41,000 tons of the products.
In the first quarter of this year, Azerbaijan exported 8.3 thousand tons of bentonite. According to the State Customs Committee, the product (272 tons) was exported to Belarus at $ 213 and to Russia (8,034.8 tons) – at $ 65. The main competitors of LLC AzRosPromInvest are producers of Greece and India.
In 2014 the volume of production of bentonite in Azerbaijan amounted to 84.4 thousand tons, which is 13.6% less than in 2013. Azerbaijan exported 78.8 thousand tons and generated $ 5.5 million.
Bentonite powder is used in many areas of industry, including the production of iron ore pellets, winemaking, construction, cosmetology, soil reclamation, etc.
Ltd. AzRosPromInvest is a joint venture with the participation of Dash Salahli Bentonit (50%) and LLC Bentonite Company (50%). The Russian cofounder has invested about $26 million in the organization of mining and production of bentonite in the field Dash Salahli in the Gazakh district. The production capacity of the enterprise allows producing more than 370 thousand tons of bentonite products a year. ---08B
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