Minsk Tractor Works (; ; MTZ) is a Belarusian

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the machine (mechanical), mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are list of agricultural machinery, many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractor ...

manufacturer with headquarters in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. Minsk Tractor Works is one of the main

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

factories in the country. It is a part of the Minsk Tractor Works Industrial Association. In addition to the main plant in Minsk, the association includes a number of plants that produce parts and attachable tools for tractors and other vehicles produced by MTZ.

History

The plant was established on 29 May 1946. The first manufactured tractor was caterpillar tractor "Kirovets".История продукции
/ref> The production of MTZ-model tractors, the MTZ-1 and MTZ-2 models, started on October 14, 1953. (Prototypes were manufactured in 1949.) As of 2005, it had nearly 20,000 workers. The plant produces over 62 models of

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

s. Its main civil production has been four-wheeled

s of model "MTZ", known as ''

''. By 1995 the plant had manufactured 3,000,000 tractors. In 1999, it produced 58% of all tractors manufactured in the CIS. In 2017, its share in the production of wheel tractors in

CIS countries The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 246,200,194. ...

was 87%. MTZ tractors were exported to Western Europe, too. In 2013, the plant tractors were certified in the US by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and in Canada by

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the Ministry (government department), department ...

and received full approval for their import and distribution in both countries. Since 2010, distribution of Belarus tractors in the US and Canada is carried on through a local distributor, MTZ Equipment Ltd. In 2015, MTZ produced 2,424 tractors, an increase of 45% compared to the previous year (1,648 tractors). In 2017, 92.1% tractors of 31,011 produced were exported. Eight countries imported more than 500 "Belarus" tractors: Russia (11,135), Pakistan (4,845), Ukraine (4,028), Kazakhstan (2,106), Azerbaijan (1,637), Hungary (871), Romania (812), Lithuania (736). In 2020, after the

Presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

, police brutality, and the mass torture of protesters, the workers of MTZ joined the national strike and opposition. In 2022, Canada and Ukraine imposed sanctions on MTZ.

Products

Tractors

Belarus-80.1; Belarus-82.1; Belarus-90; Belarus-92; Belarus-320; Belarus-310; Belarus-321; Belarus-422; Belarus-510; Belarus, 512; Belarus-520; Belarus-522; Belarus-572; Belarus-622; Belarus-820; Belarus-826; Belarus-892; Belarus-920; Belarus-922.3; Belarus-923.3; Belarus-1021; Belarus-Belarus-1025.2 1220.3; Belarus-1221.2; Belarus-1523; Belarus-2022.3; Belarus-3022DTS.1; Belarus-3522.; Belarus-5022

Special tractors

Belarus-80X; Belarus-100X; Belarus-920R; Belarus-921.3; BELARUS-921.4-10 / 91.

Caterpillar tractors

From November 1950 to August 1951 the plant manufactured the caterpillar tractor "Kirovets". Also for some time the plant manufactured

skidder A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut timber, trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. There they are loaded onto t ...

Associated plants

* MTZ plant * Сморгоньский агрегатный завод, Smarhon mechanical unit plant * Бобруйский завод тракторных деталей и агрегатов,

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

tractor part and mechanical unit plant * Витебский завод тракторных запчастей, Vitsebsk tractor part plant * Минский завод специнструмента и технологической оснастки, Minsk instrument and auxiliaries plant * Минский завод шестерён, Minsk gear plant * Лепельский электромеханический завод, Lepel electromechanical plant * Смолевичский завод шестерён, Smalyavichy gear plant * Гомельский завод «Гидропривод», Gomel hydraulic drive plant * Завод гидроаппаратуры в г. Хойники, Khoyniki hydraulic drive plant * Наровлянский завод гидроаппаратуры, Narowlya hydraulic drive plant * Мозырский машиностроительный завод,

Mazyr Mazyr or Mozyr (, ; , ; ; ) is a city in Gomel Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Mazyr District. It is situated on the Pripyat (river), Pripyat River about east of Pinsk and northwest of Chernobyl in Ukraine. As of 2025, ...

machine-building plant *

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Joint assembly production of MTZ tractors began in 2013 in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, at MTZ's first assembly plant in the

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

region. Tractors are now exported to all ASEAN countries.

Sport, media, and culture

Until 2010 Minsk Tractor Works was a sponsor of a

Belarusian Premier League The Belarusian Premier League (, ''Vyšejšaja Liha'' or ''Vysheyshaya Liga''; ; "Top League"), also called the BETERA Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Belarus and the highest level of the B ...

football team MTZ-RIPO Minsk. Games were played at Traktor stadium, which is located near the plant. The

Palace of Culture Palace of Culture (, , ''wénhuà gōng'', ) or House of Culture (Polish: ''dom kultury'') is a common name (generic term) for major Club (organization), club-houses (community centres) in the former Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern bloc ...

of the plant hosts the ballroom Dance Club Mara.

Gallery

File:MTZ-82.1 tractor with front loader.jpg, MTZ-82.1 tractor with front loader File:Belarus 821 Qurgonteppa 1.jpg, MTZ-82 File:Belarus_820.jpg, MTZ-820 File:Belarus 952.jpg, MTZ-952 File:MTZ-921.3 Belarus Tractor at IndAgra Farm Romexpo 2010.JPG, MTZ-921 File:Tractor Belarus-320 MK-2.jpg, MTZ-320 File:Tractor Belarus-1221-s.jpg, MTZ-1221 File:Tractor_Belarus-1522-2.jpg, MTZ-1522 File:Belarus_1523.jpg, MTZ-1523 File:Belarus_1220.4.jpg, MTZ-1220 File:Belarus_1222.jpg, MTZ-1222 File:Belarus_1025.jpg, MTZ-1025 File:Belarus_2422.jpg, MTZ-2422 File:Belarus_3022.jpg, MTZ-3022 File:Belarus 4522.jpg, MTZ-4522 File:Belarus MTZ-5022 (02).jpg, MTZ-5022

References

External links

* *
Belarusian Machine Building: Once a Nation's Pride, Now a Burden?Belarus: putting Russia on the right tractor – archive, 1988
{{Authority control Tractor manufacturers of Belarus Agricultural machinery manufacturers of Belarus Belarusian brands Buildings and structures in Minsk Companies based in Minsk Economy of Minsk Companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in Belarus Defence companies of the Soviet Union Agriculture companies of the Soviet Union Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union