Within ten days the Belarusian Economy Ministry has to present a draft legal act to enable conditions for the effective operation of glass factories. Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich gave the instruction at the session of the Council of Ministers Presidium on 19 November, BelTA has learned.
Measures to improve the operation of Belarusian glass container manufacturers was one of the items on the agenda. “This industry lacks proper organization,” believes the head of government.
At present there are five enterprises of different forms of ownership in Belarus that specialize in making glass containers. These enterprises include enterprises, which are part of the group of companies ATEC, the Gomel-based glass containers factory, Belevrotara Company, and Glass Factory Elizovo, which has been founded by the state (35% of the authorized fund) and the Austrian company ATEC Holding GmbH (65%), the state-run enterprise OAO Grodno Glassworks, and the private enterprise Belstekloprom.
Belarusian Architecture and Construction Minister Anatoly Cherny said that this year all the enterprises have been operating at a loss, with losses getting higher every month. The losses totaled Br102.7 billion in January-August 2013.
In line with the program to guide the development of the Belarusian glass industry in 2016-2010 and till 2015 the enterprises have modernized existing manufacturing facilities. The Gomel glass factory has set up new ones, said the official. The efforts have allowed renewing the basic assets and expanding the production choice. The ATEC Group enterprises now make over 100 kinds of glass containers, Grodno Glassworks makes 88 new types of glass containers and 13 new patterns of patterned glass.
The efforts to modernize and reconstruct the glass container manufacturing facilities were aimed in particular at providing Belarusian alcohol manufacturers and the processing industry with quality batch-produced glass containers and with exclusive ones. Anatoly Cherny remarked that the glass containers substitute imports and are intended for export.
Yet the export of glass containers has dropped this year, stated the Architecture and Construction Minister. He attributed the decline to the low competitive ability of Belarus-made glass containers primarily due to the high cost of energy resources and raw materials.
According to Anatoly Cherny, the cost of imported raw materials is constantly rising, too. The consumption of Belarus-made glass containers is also influenced by the fact that in addition to buying new glass containers Belarusian alcohol producers also import reusable containers.
The problems that Belarusian manufacturers of glass containers face are identical for all the enterprises and represent the key reasons behind their lossmaking operation. The existing situation on the market of glass containers rules out effective work. It is impossible to plan investments into the establishment of new manufacturing facilities and the development of the existing ones, said the official.
After hearing out the facts Mikhail Myasnikovich gave several instructions. Within ten days the Belarusian Economy Ministry has to present a draft legal act to enable conditions for the effective operation of the glass factories. The Ministry of Housing and Utilities has worked on the problem of improving the collection and processing glass cullet together with the Trade Ministry. The matter will be taken over by the Economy Ministry for the sake of fully satisfying the needs of Belarusian glass factories.
As far as the purchase of glass containers is concerned, Mikhail Myasnikovich believes that Belarusian manufacturers are better off buying Belarus-made batch-produced glass containers.
