Production of the first ArmaTrac tractors in Africa has started following a licensing agreement signed at the end of last year with Giad Tractors in Sudan to make them.
Part of an on-going plan by Turkish manufacturer Erkunt Tractors to develop ArmaTrac as a global brand, Sudan is the first country where the tractors will be produced outside Turkey. The first models to leave the production line are the Perkins-powered 75hp 752e and 84hp 852e. The plan is to build 150 units before the end of this year and gradually ramp up the numbers. The current capacity of the Karthoum plant is around 400 tractors a year.
In addition to cultivators, trailers and sprayers, Giad Tractors, which belongs to the Giad Industrial group, also makes a basic spec tractor, the 75hp 285. While of a similar power to the ArmaTrac 752e, this model offers higher levels of sophistication, with Perkins and Deutz engines, ZF transmissions and Carraro axles.
The first models to leave the production line are the Perkins-powered 75hp 752e and 84hp 852e. The plan is to build 150 units before the end of this year.
Sudan is one of the fastest developing countries on the African continent and Erkunt Tractor’s founder Zeynep Erkunt Armagan believes that ArmaTrac will develop as one of the prominent tractor brands. “Sudan is a member of COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), and I am sure it will provide us with a stepping stone to the other member states,” she said.
Founded on the September 12, 2003, Erkunt reckons to be Turkey’s third largest supplier in a market that takes roughly 60,000 new tractors a year. Producing more than 160 different models, the Ankara factory has the capacity to make up to 18,000 units a year.
Established as the export brand in 2007, ArmaTrac models currently account for more than 40% of production, and the tractors are not only sold in the UK and Ireland, but also in 33 other countries on three continents. Erkunt Tractors was bought by Indian firm Mahindra & Mahindra in September 2017.
