BelAZ

Stock performance

History

BelAZ traces its roots to a machinery plant founded in Zhodino in 1948, which in 1958 began building heavy dump trucks for the Soviet Union's mines. It grew into the USSR's main producer of mining trucks, and in 2013 it unveiled the BelAZ 75710, billed as the largest dump truck in the world, able to carry about 450 tonnes.

Business model

BelAZ designs and builds giant off-highway dump trucks and other heavy mining equipment, selling them to coal, iron-ore, and other mining operations, mainly in Russia and other former Soviet states but also in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and earning ongoing revenue from spare parts and service.

Market position

BelAZ is one of the world's leading makers of large mining trucks, competing with Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Liebherr, and has a dominant share of the market in the former Soviet Union.

Country impact

BelAZ is a source of national pride and a symbol of Belarus's retained Soviet-era heavy industry, which the state kept largely intact and state-owned after 1991. Its export sales are an important source of foreign currency, though sanctions have made sales to Western-aligned markets more difficult.