Could you give us
a brief background of the history of Aktau Plastics
Plant?
The decision to build this plant was made in
1974. The construction started in 1976. Saint-Petersburg
Company "PlasPolymere" and engineers
from French Company "Litvin" developed
the general project. We received equipment from
Europe and we paid for it later on, after the
production of goods started. The technological
base was foreign. The first goods were produced
in 1985. The quality was very high and still is.
Right now we are penetrating the European market,
countries such as Spain, Italy and Holland, and
since we have not had any problem regarding the
quality of our products. Business was stable till
1995. The weak economic situation in 1996 started
worsening our business. In 1997-1998, the plant
was completely closed. Reason for that was that
our main markets were Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia.
During Soviet period, we produced 60% of polystyrene
and 40% of styrene for them. We were bankruptcy
but in March 2001 a Russian Company "Extra
Class" bought our plant. After finishing
all the paper work, we hired new people and started
strong training. In Nov 2001, the production started.
Today, we are gradually increasing the production.
We are trying to get back our markets in Russia,
Ukraine, and Byelorussia. Today we are only using
only 50% of our capacity. Our first products were
those that could be easily sold. Today, we are
trying to bring back the production of styrene.
We also deal with the development of the oil industry
of Aktau.
Could you please elaborate more on the services
that you offer? How many people do you employ?
Who do you work with?
Since we started our operations, we have 2000
employees. Last year, we just had 300 people,
basically security guards and firemen. We serve
different sectors: railways, energy sector and
construction. We have our own transportation system
as well as medical system as production can be
very dangerous and we take care of our employees.
Could you give our readers some financial
figures?
We just started our activity and it is difficult
to give exact figures. Until now, we just invested
money. The Russian Company invested about 16 million
dollars. Right now we are 100% private company.
And we are expecting to recover our investment
next year. We spend 10 million dollars for training
our personnel and for fixed assets. That's why
it is difficult to evaluate profits. We are very
positive about our future due to the following
reasons: the Government and the development of
oil and gas sector. Kazakhstan has only two basic
companies in Atyrau and Aktau, and ours is the
biggest.
What kind of strategies do you use to be competitive?
Right now we have plans for developing the production
of our own gas. Previously, Kazakhstan imported
many goods. Therefore, we are trying to be part
of the oil and gas sector. |
How do you maintain
the competition with Atyrau?
There is another Polypropylene Plant in Atyrau.
It has the same owner as us, therefore, we are
not competitors. Besides we work with Agip, for
supply Атырауского
of a factory resources between ours by 2 factories
- kinds of production.
Do you have new contacts with investors?
I am not dealing with this kind of questions.
As far as I know, we already have some contacts
with banks of Russia and Kazakhstan and the United
States. Investments in production are usually
very high like 150 million dollars. It is very
expensive. Without outside partnerships, development
is not possible.
Do you have any other plans, maybe with Asian
countries?
Today, we are selling our products to Turkey.
We have already sold about 2000 tons of polystyrene.
Two weeks ago, I met with an Iranian company.
We have been working with Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Byelorussia, and Ukraine. Moreover, we
are planning to export to China, India, and Pakistan.
What is your total production?
Till now we produced 12000 tons of polystyrene
and by the end of the year we are planning to
produce another 6000 tons polystyrene and 15000
tons of styrene. In July and August we had to
stop our production due to work maintenance. We
have done a lot of work in environment preservation;
we decided to do this in summer because it is
much more difficult to do it in winter.
Could you tell us more about your exports?
We export 97% of our goods. Only 3% is consumed
in Kazakhstan. Most of our goods go to Russia,
Turkey, Spain, Holland, and Italy. We are also
planning to export to France. In the past, France
consumed 10000-15000 tons of our polystyrene.
We hope that we will achieve these levels. We
will work closely with Sea Port of Aktau because
in the future it will be more comfortable to transport
our goods by sea. There is a new plan for transport
"The Great Silk Road" where all kind
of road as well as routes will be developed.
Could you give a final message to our readers?
The potential of companies operating in Kazakhstan
is not well known to the world yet. New partnerships
should be staled by modernizing the processes. The
potential of our market is huge and I think it will
be very interesting for investors. |
