Pulp Mill Holding: We intend to implement two projects for the construction of new plants in the Kaluga region for the confidence in preferences for investors

On 29 May, 2020, during a working visit the Acting Governor of the Kaluga Region Vladislav Shapsha attended the industrial sites of the Borovsky district – in Vorsino industrial park and on the northern site of SEZ Kaluga.

In the territory of Vorsino industrial park, he visited Arkhbum Tissue Group LLC (a subsidiary of Arkhangelsk PPM JSC, a part of the Austrian-German Pulp Mill Holding group).

The tour around the enterprise for Vladislav Shapsha was given by the chairman of the Board of Directors of Arkhbum Tissue Group LLC Irina Galakhova, director of the company Alexander Tufanov, his first deputy Alexander Shcherbina and the member of the Board of Directors of Arkhangelsk PPM JSC Valery Kudryavtsev.

The head of the Kaluga region got acquainted with the production algorithm of sanitary products in details by visiting the paper machine and the conversion shop where he saw the entire line of the Arkhbum Tissue Group products under its own brand Soffione. The investments in this greenfield project are estimated at 11.5 billion rubles. The plant was constructed and commissioned in two years. Now the facilities of the enterprise’s first line are designed to produce 70 thousand tons of sanitary products per year and wares wrapping.

During the visit to the plant, it was noted that the innovative technologies used in the production make it possible to call the plant a completely environmentally friendly production.

As Vladislav Shapsha experienced first-hand, under the COVID-19 conditions Arkhbum Tissue Group not only operates normally under conditions of the increased employee safety but also, according to the company’s management, significantly increased its production output – it increased by over 30%, the range of its sales expanded to European markets.

Then there was a business meeting with the video participation of Vladimir Krupchak, the member of the Board of Directors of the Arkhangelsk PPM, where Vladislav Shapsha got familiarized with Pulp Mill Holding’s assets and the established corporate vertically-integrated system the core of which is Arkhangelsk PPM.

One of the few in Russia, the holding is actively developing not only by increasing production of high-quality products but most importantly – by increasing the share of its deep conversion within the group of companies and even by diversifying the product line of the industry.

Vladimir Krupchak told the head of the region that Arkhbum Tissue Group has begun the construction of the 2nd line of the plant with a total value of 8.5 billion rubles with a capacity similar to the first one. The company plans to expand its production further and increase output to 210 thousand tons per year by means of the construction of the third line. Currently, the plant employs 405 people mainly from the settlements of the region and the capital area, in the future this number will increase to 686.

The head of the Kaluga region Vladislav Shapsha was able to familiarize himself in details with new promising projects of Arkhangelsk PPM and Pulp Mill Holding, which the holding intends to implement in Russia. Vladimir Krupchak indicated the new chipboard plant for the production of corrugated packaging – the ARKHBUM LINER project, and the new plant for the production of paper bags – the ARKHBUM UPAK project.

The new projects of Pulp Mill Holding are investment intensive, they create new jobs and the corresponding tax payments, but they are also socially oriented in the broad sense of the word. In particular, the future plant for the production of consumer packaging, including paper bags ARKHBUM UPAK is a green development trend – an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic packaging.

The project for the construction of a plant for the production of chipboard (production of testliner and fluting) is focused on the implementation of testliner and fluting at its own corrugated cardboard production. ARKHBUM LINER will solve the problem of recycling of recoverable resources – the most relevant task in the field of environmental protection today.

The chairperson of the Board of Directors of Arkhbum Tissue Group LLC Irina Galakhova emphasized in a discussion with the head of the Kaluga region that despite the large number of the regions interested in these trend projects, the company inclines towards the Kaluga region as one of the most investment-attractive, for the Holding management is confident that the region’s authorities will provide the preferences and benefits necessary for responsible investors.