Russian timber industry news #16-2016

– Segezha Group may engage in the production of CLT panels, said the President of the company Sergey Pomelov in an interview with Vedomosti business paper. The group also plans to increase production volumes and reduce costs at the recently acquired Lesosibirsky LDK #1 sawmill. The volume of wood processing will grow from 1.1 to 1.5 million m3. The management will deal with the bottlenecks through the modernization of the drying complex, wood waste management and construction of a new biofuel boiler. The company is also negotiating with large companies from South-East Asia and Latin America on M&A transactions.

– Vnesheconombank intends to build a PPM in the Krasnoyarsk region and unite Far Eastern assets (Asia-Les, RFP Group, JV Arkaim) into a timber industry cluster

– Denmark remained the leader in deliveries of pellets from Russia in the first half of 2016, as its energy companies and traders purchased 195 thousand tonnes of pellets, according to Infobio agency. Sweden was traditionally the second, the Netherlands ranked third. This country is one of the largest consumers of pellets, but the Dutch customers avoided procurement of biofuels from Russia until recently, the market was dominated by products from the United States and Canada. The introduction of certificates and unification of some documents have allowed to establish Russian pellet exports to the Netherlands.

– Sevlespil LLC (Komi Republic) will invest 300 million rubles in the construction of a pellet factory and plans modernization of logging machinery and reconstruction of equipment in 2016. According to WhatWood agency, the rated capacity of the sawmill is 200,000 m3, sawn timber production in 2015 amounted to 166,000 m3. The mill operates on the base of AriVislanda sawmill line (2009). The description of mill’s equipment and sales markets is available in WhatWood study Russian Softwood Sawmills.

– Siblesproekt intends to build a factory for wooden housing construction elements in the Krasnoyarsk region worth RUB 1.5 billion with an annual capacity of 60,000 m3 of finished products.

– Kondopoga pulp and paper mill (Karelia) plans to build a plant for the production of dry lignosulphonates, said the Executive Director of the plant Yuri Aivazov. The company now produces lignosulphonates in solution, and within three years its output has increased by 21%.

– The Swedish group IKEA plans to increase the purchase of wood in Russia by 10-15% per year in order to optimize the timber supply chain in the country and abroad, as well as to improve the efficiency of raw materials usage.

– Volga pulpmill (Nizhny Novgorod region) has signed a contract with the Austrian company Аndritz for the supply of equipment for the construction of thermo-mechanical pulp plant with a capacity of 450,000 tonnes.

More detailed news of the Russian timber industry and review of global market trends of roundwood, lumber, wood panels and pellets; exclusive articles and interviews; over 25 pages of price charts are available in our digital Russian Timber Journal.