Belarusian Prime Minister Alexander Turchin visited BELJI (Belarusian Automobile Plant) CJSC, including the stamping shop construction site, BELTA's correspondent reports.

This is the second working visit of the head of government to the plant within a year. In April, the main topics were the results of the company's performance in 2025 and the prospects for the development of the domestic passenger car industry. The visit to BELJI was also related to discussing development plans, primarily the construction of an in-house stamping shop, which is expected to become operational by the end of 2027. This will allow for increasing production volumes and boosting localization. Today's agenda includes an assessment of the work done and the plant's performance indicators.

As noted by BELJI Director Gennady Svidersky, since the plant's launch, more than 400,000 cars have been produced, of which over 100,000 have been sold in Belarus. "We are constantly working on upgrades, modernization, and reconstruction. Last year we modernized the paint shop. While in 2018, the design capacity of our plant was 60,000 cars under a two-shift operation, now the paint shop capacity has been doubled, i.e., it is now 120,000. To achieve this, we had to upgrade the equipment; now the most advanced technology is being applied, and we have achieved increased productivity and energy savings. To balance these capacities, we also reconstructed the welding shop. In 2018, we had about 35 robots; after last year's reconstruction, we have 70, i.e., twice as many. Reconstruction does not stop there, and this year we started the construction of a stamping production facility. Our country is a machine-building one, but there is no automated stamping production for large-sized parts anywhere. Therefore, the idea emerged to build such a production facility," he said.

In-house stamping, according to the director, will provide a number of advantages. "Metal body parts are the largest-sized components supplied as part of the knockdown kits. Once we build the stamping production, the number of containers needed for delivery here from China will decrease by 70%. We will stamp our own parts from metal right here. And in order for these parts to reach the assembly line further, we are simultaneously carrying out the reconstruction of the welding shop. If last year we increased the number of robots to 70, then when the stamping shop works are completed, we will have as many as 150. The works started in June. Installation of metal structures is underway, and we are starting to close the roofing. We plan to organize the construction works during September-October in such a way that it is possible to work inside these premises. And in 2027, we plan to start equipment installation in order to launch stamping production. This will allow, first, to save on logistics, second, to increase the degree of localization, and third, it generally completes the creation of a full-cycle plant. From then on, only domestic components are needed, and everything necessary will already be produced at this plant," emphasized Gennady Svidersky.

CJSC "BELJI" produced 73,673 vehicles worth 3,856.5 million rubles over the eight months of 2026. A total of 42,147 vehicles worth $690 million were sold for export. On the domestic market — 32,916 units worth 1,930 million rubles.-0-

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