São Paulo – Company Stara, a maker of agricultural equipment, should start producing tractors in Brazil and exporting them. This information was disclosed by the commercial director at the company, Fernando Trennepohl. The company should enter the area this week with the import of tractors from Argentina. The plan is primarily to buy the vehicles ready in the neighbouring nation, for sale in Brazil under the Stara brand, and later starting in August 2012, to begin importing them in parts, for assembly in Brazil. Then, in 2013, the idea is to start producing in Brazil. Exports, according to Trennepohl, will begin when the tractors are being assembled in Brazil.
Albeit, to begin with, as production should not be very significant, there will not be much space for exports. “We are going to export some,” said Trennepohl, regarding the equipment assembled in Brazil. He considers Eastern Europe a potential international destination for Stara tractors. According to the director, Agriculture in the region is similar to that of Brazil, with great tracts, which requires large tractors. According to Trennepohl, the vehicles to be imported by Stara, for later production in Brazil, are robust, for crop manipulation.
The tractors imported by Stara will be supplied by the Argentine Pauny. The company forecast is for, up to the end of the year, production of 450 units, including imported vehicles and those assembled in Brazil. To develop the tractor project, Stara should open a new factory in Brazil.
Currently, the organisation has one industrial unit in the city of Não-Me-Toque, in Rio Grande do Sul, and a smelting unit in the city of Carazinho, also in Rio Grande do Sul. Production of Stara agricultural equipment is 11,000 units a year and exports represent 10% of the total. According to Trennepohl, the equipment goes to 35 countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, South America and Africa. Among the Africans, Sudan, which is Arab, imports Stara products.
Stara has been in the market for 51 years and is a family business. It was established by Johannes Bernardus Stapelbroek, Trennepohl’s great grandfather on his mother’s side. The company employs 1,700 people and makes products like seeders, sprayers, bulldozers, fertilizer distributors and trailers, among others.
Contact
Telephone: (+55 54) 3332-2800
Site: www.stara.com.br
E-mail: stara@stara.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
