PRESS: Towed machinery makers ask govt for 10 bln rbl subsidies

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (PRIME) -- Association Spetsavtoprom has asked Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to approve 10 billion rubles of additional subsidies in 2023 for the producers of towed machinery and equipment, Vedomosti business daily reported on Monday quoting the association’s letter to Mishustin.

Spetsavtoprom unites 80 producers of self-propelled, special, and road construction machines and equipment. The association wants the government to provide the subsidies that should cover the equipment scrappage fee that the producers of towed machinery and equipment pay.

The federal budget has already earmarked 2.5 billion rubles of subsidies for the producers. But the scrappage fee was raised several-fold this year, and the association fears that the subsidy won’t be enough for all companies taking into the account the accumulated debt, the business daily reported.

Spetsavtoprom says production of trailer and semi-trailer machines will exceed 20,000 this year, and their scrappage fee should amount to 12.5 billion rubles, Vedomosti reported.

The association’s CEO Denis Kudryavtsev also said that the Industry and Trade Ministry is yet to distribute some scrappage fee subsidies for 2022. It should distribute 1.9 billion rubles of outstanding subsidies among the companies until the end of February. The failure to distribute them on time forces the companies to cut production and allows foreign firms to occupy the market, he said.

The association sent its letter through Valery Gartung, head of the competition protection committee of the parliament’s lower chamber State Duma.

Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Albert Karimov said that the combined subsidy for the producers of self-propelled and towed machines for 2023 amounts to 12.5 billion rubles. A ministry representative told Vedomosti that there was no separate subsidy for towed machines.

(72.7923 rubles – U.S. $1)

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