AvtoKrAZ Expands Eastward (KRAZ: BUY)

AvtoKraz will deliver 300 trucks to Kazakhstan in 2005-06 and open a representative office in Vietnam. The company estimates annual demand for KrAZ trucks in Kazakhstan will total 1,000. Last year, 96 trucks were delivered to the Kazakh market. The representative office in Vietnam will allow the company to control assembly operations in the country more efficiently. This year, AvtoKrAZ plans to deliver 400 assembly sets to Vietnam. Concorde Capital: We project total CIS deliveries, excluding Russia, will exceed 900 trucks in 2005-06, compared with 507 in 2003-04, as the company is also actively targeting Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan. The Vietnamese office will serve as a launch pad for exports to other Asian markets. We project deliveries to Vietnam will reach 1,000 assembly sets in 2006 (from 210 sets in 2004).