Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.16 / Trend, E.Ismayilov /
A bentonite plant in Azerbaijani Gazakh region produced 200,000 tons of products in 2011, Natig Shirinzade, Board Chairman of AzRosPromInvest established by Azerbaijani company "Dash Salahli Bentonit" and Russian Scientific and Production Company "Bentonit" told journalists on Wednesday.
He said volume of bentonite sales will hit 88,000-90,000 tons in 2011. As of January-October, the enterprise sold 78,000 tons of bentonite compared to 77,000 tons sold in 2010.
Recession affected demand for metallurgical and steel products, Shirinzade said. Azerbaijani Metallurgical Enterprise expects reduced product consumption in 2012. Bentonite is mainly used by metallurgical and casting industry, therefore, reduced consumption on these products will also affect bentonte consumption.
"Moreover, we exceeded sales volume year on year. They reached the same level of 2010 during ten months of 2011. We will increase sales volume within two months," he underlined.
Shirinzade stressed string competition on the bentonite market, particularly by Greek, Bulgarian and Indian producers. Greek and Indian products are introduced on the Russian market. Despite the enterprise conducts work to increase sales volume in Europe, which in turn, requires additional investments to conduct study of market.