How Germans Tried To Run Business In Belarus

The German order did not help investors from Germany while running business in Belarus' agriculture.

Tax office initiated proceedings in the case of economic insolvency against the main symbol of investment attractiveness of the Belarusian agro-industrial complex - German company Stotz Agro-Service - and an automatic stay went into effect.

Smolevichi district Inspectorate of Taxes and Levies initiated the bankruptcy procedure against the company Shtots Agro-Service. At the end of June this year, the Economic Court of Minsk region used its motion as the basis for initiating proceedings in the bankruptcy case of Stotz Agro-Service and introduced an automatic stay, which will last until September 25, 2017. The court scheduled a curt session for this date, during which it will consider the issue of commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings and preparation for the trial, Zavtra Tvoej Strany writes. For now, a temporary administrator appointed by the court heads Stotz Agro-Service.

The agricultural enterprise Stotz Agro-Service was established in 2000 by the German company Stotz Agro-Service. Before that, its owners, Lorenz-Peter Stotz and Waltraud Szustak, cooperated with the Belarusian regional and district authorities on the supply of imported agricultural machinery (Claas, Amazonen-Werke, Hardi International, Strautmann, Bergmann) for several years. They establishede a network of maintenance shops in Belarus (in Brest, Vitsebsk, Obukhava in Hrodna district, Halmecha in Rechytski region, Mahiliou) and opened a logistics center in the village Staryna in Smaliavichy district. Stotz Agro-Service even had its own fleet of aircraft (2 An-2 planes) to prompt delivery of spare parts. They also set up customized production of certain types of agricultural equipment and its components within the premises of Belagroservis in Fanipal'.

Agricultural company Stotz Agro-Service became an additional brunch to the already branched business of the Germans in Belarus. Two collective farms in the Smaliavichy district (Leninski Put and Pekalin) were united with a manor in Zabalot'e within this company. The enterprise was engaged in the cereals and rape cultivation, breeding of meat and dairy cattle.

In 2003, the Germans became owners of another farm based in the village of Mitskoushchyna in the Vorsha district (Shtotz Agro-Service Mitkovschina).

Since 2015, Stotz Agro-Service starts getting on the "black list" of tax authorities from time to time, and from 2016 it is permanently listed there.

Over the past few years, another agricultural enterprise created by a foreign investor, Naliboki-Neman in Kliotsk district, has been showing stability in this regard. Bulgarian businessman Enev Emil Marinov invested in it.

There are only few examples of foreign investors' engagement in the Belarusian agro-industrial complex, and even fewer of them are successful projects.

Italian companies Bissolo Gabriele Group and AgroBel (BissoloGabrielePharm and BelAgrocultura in Kobryn and Ivatsevichy districts), Dutch company Vissers Aardbeiplanten (Klubnuka Plants in Shchuchyn district), Chinese companies Shenyang and SinoBelAgro in Pruzhany district, Russian Concern Detskoselsky in Haradok district have also invested in agriculture in Belarus over the last years.