Russian forest – Unutilized growth base
The conference “Russian Forest – Unutilized Growth Base” will be held in December 2015, in Vienna (Austria). The organizers of the event are The Union of Timber Manufacturers and Exporters of Russia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation in partnership with The Austrian Economic Chambers; The Association of Specialists of the Pulp and Paper Industry (ASPPI) is an operator of the event.
The conference is going to be a meeting point for representatives of business entities, banking community, authorities, and professionals of forest and pulp and paper industry. The specialists will discuss the prospects for the future development of timber industry of Russia.
“Our country possesses 20% of world forest resources and the effective use of natural resources is one of the primary goals of the government in the years ahead. Today we are much behind other countries in effectiveness of utilizing of forest resources. Actions aimed at timber industry development which were taken after adoption of the new Forestry Code in 2006 and Basic Principles of State Forest Policy in 2013, have not resulted in needed results”, comments G.V. Kalamanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation on the necessity of the conference.
According to M.V. Tatsyn, the President of The Union of Timber Manufacturers and Exporters of Russia, in real terms problems of the industry (including planning and realization of projects) are solved single-handedly as long as there is no an effective mechanism of investment activity support in the forest processing complex. Conference is intended to gather all interested parties in one place, which will provide an opportunity to analyze first results of work on the ‘road map of industry development’ under the decision of the Timber Complex Development Council under the Government of the Russian Federation to discuss current problems and outline the ways of its solving.
The most “contemporary” pulp and paper mill was built over 40 years ago, and for a number of parameters Russian pulp and paper industry hasn’t reached the level of the Soviet times (in 1988-1989).
A.U. Chukhlebov, the Chairman of the Board of The Association of Specialists of the Pulp and Paper Industry, despite the overall unfavorable current situation, makes some examples of several successful national projects. In pulp and paper industry – modernization of Mondi Syktyvkar mill, projects of the Ilim Group, complex modernization of Arkhangelsk PPM, introduction of new capacity at SFT Group; in paper segment – LWC-Kama (production of the first Russian coated paper). “I would also underline the decision of the SVEZA Group to build one of the biggest pulp mill in Europe in the territory of the Vologda region, with the capacity of more than 1 million tons of sulfate bleached pulp per year.
The launch of such projects creates hope for the recovery of the industry”, says Mr. Chukhlebov, “Along as productions of such level are able to realize the forest potential of Russia. But the complex system of governmental bodies that regulate the industry and absence of the decision-making center make the realization of big projects more difficult or impossible. This in turn slows down the development of the national forest processing complex!” The conference in Vienna should become a kind of a club for forest processing sector representatives: it will join together the heads of business entities, specialists, potential investors, authorities and professional communities of forest and pulp and paper industry, manufacturers of equipment and purchasers of pulp and paper industry products, which will enable to speed up the coordination and resolution agreement at all levels. The organizers of the conference expect that such meetings should become an annual tradition which will enable not only to recover the status of Russia as the leading forest state, but also to make great progress due to construction of modern advanced technology plants.
