Kirovets claims to have built 2,400 agricultural and industrial tractors at its factory in St. Petersburg (Russia) last year.

The company says that this figure – one of its “best results of recent years” – was partly due to securing big orders from the “largest agricultural holdings in Russia”.

Of course, don’t forget that a brand new Kirovets tractor recently landed here in Ireland – in west Cork.

Also Read: First of its kind? Russian-built oddity lands…in west Cork

Well-known champion plough-man Liam O’Driscoll took delivery of what must surely rank as one of Ireland’s most unusual new tractors – a Kirovets K-424 (pictured below).

Liam actually won the tractor at the European Ploughing Contest in Russia, which took place back in June (2018). The articulated (pivot-steer) K-424 is rated at 240hp; it weighs just over 11t.

Russian market

Meanwhile, back in Russia, Kirovets says that its “strong” manufacturing performance last year was helped in no small measure by an order for 80 K-735 tractors from one company (albeit with several large-scale farms under its remit).

Kirovets first sold tractors to this entity (ABH Bank Avangard) back in 2015. A spokesperson explained (albeit translated from Russian into English): “Before that, there were only foreign tractors in their yards.

They found that there was an increased cost of servicing for American and European tractors after two to three years of operation.

ABH Bank Avangard’s farming operations apparently extend across 400,000ha. The company now owns 1,500 tractors.

Additionally, last year, Kirovets secured a “big order” for 52 K-742 tractors from Southeast Agrogroup. It owns 200,000ha of agricultural land in the Tambov and Penza regions.

Who or what is Kirovets?

JSC Peterburgsky Traktorny Zavod – of which Kirovets is a brand-name – is a subsidiary of JSC Kirovsky Zavod, which can trace its history to Putilovsky Zavod – founded in the capital of the Russian Empire way back in 1801.

Records at the tractor manufacturing plant go back to 1924, when the first Fordson-Putilovets tractor was produced there.