IDF expanded the range of soft loans for wood processing projects

Within the framework of Leasing Projects program, the Industrial Development Fund has begun to grant loans for the purchase of harvesters and forwarders on finance lease basis at 1% per annum to woodworking enterprises (code No. 16 as per the Russian Classification of Activities). It is now possible to purchase loading and unloading equipment and self-propelled vehicles, including forklifts and cranes, on finance lease basis on preferential terms.

At the end of December 2020, Forestry Projects program of joint financing created together with regional industrial development funds was launched. Soft loans under this program are granted to SMEs to finance their projects for the modernization of wood processing facilities by purchasing process equipment. Under this program, federal and regional funds provide joint loans of 20 to 100 million rubles at 1% or 3% per annum at a ratio of 70% (federal money) to 30% (regional money). To implement larger projects, companies of the forest sector can apply for Development Projects, another ongoing program of the IDF, and receive a loan of 50 to 500 million rubles.

To finance small projects, there are separate programs of regional industrial development funds offering loans of 1 to 20 million rubles at an interest rate of 2% per annum for up to 36 months. To apply for them, companies have to co-finance at least 20% of the project using their own funds, and the total project budget should be 1.2 million rubles or more. The RF Ministry of Industry and Trade informs that all these measures are intended to help entrepreneurs, which were previously engaged in only timber harvesting, re-purpose their production facilities for value-added wood processing due to the ban on the exports of roundwood that will become effective from 2022. Under existing financing programs, the IDF has already issued more than 60 loans for the creation of new or modernization of existing woodworking facilities for a total of 13 billion rubles.