Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 April/ corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ The Azerbaijani-Russian joint venture AzRosPromInvest (AzRPI) has ceased the export of bentonitic clay to Russia, produced from the field Dash Salahli located in Kazakh district of Azerbaijan, said Natig Shirinzade, the chairman of Board of Directors of the joint venture.
It is attributed to the appearance of a second Azerbaijani supplier of the similar product in Russian market and the product is produced from the Alpoid field of Kazakh district. According to Shirinzade, the new supplier is involved in unfair competition and it sales its product two times cheaper.
"By supplying product of poor quality they damage the image of Azerbaijani bentonitic clay," said Shirinzade. After AzPRI was launched, it overshadowed the products of Rusian, Georgian and Armenian companies.
The delay in the supply affects the financial situation of AzPRI, but the company will not supply the product for 3 to 4 years until the Russian customers will see the difference between the products of these two Azerbaijani suppliers.
AzPRI planned to supply 80,000 tons of bentonitic clay to Russian market in 2008, 30,000 of which has already been produced.
At present, the company supplies only Minsk Tractor Plant as there is big demand for Azerbaijani product in Belarus. It used in various oil projects in Azerbaijan as well.
The company is expected to produce bentonitic powder as well, by the second half of the year.
On 1 Nov 2006, the production and refining of bentonitic clay from Dash Salahli field began. The second stage of the project is expected to end until 1 July and the third stage until the end of the year. The Company produces 300 tons of bentonitic clay a day and 6,000- 7,000 a month.
The investments to the project will be increased from the previous $12mln to $20mln, due to the rise in world prices.
The contract on the establishment of JV was signed for 25 year period.
The reserves of Dash Salahli field totals to 83mln tons.
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