Ilim Group Investments to Exceed $1.8 Billion by End of Year
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Ilim Group, Russia, this week reported that it will invest more than $580 million this year to complete modernization and expansion projects at its mills. Group CEO Paul Herbert made the announcement at a media briefing held at the APEC CEO Summit in Vladivostok, Russia.
"By the fifth anniversary of our joint venture with International Paper this October, we will have fulfilled the investment plans that were given at the time of our JV launch in 2007. Including the 2012 amounts, the total investment we have made since 2007 will exceed $1.8 billion, which is even larger than we announced five years ago," Herbert said.
The company is currently completing construction of a new world's-largest softwood pulp line in Bratsk, Siberia (investment of approximately $800 million), and is building a new paper production line in Koryazhma at a cost of $270 million. Both projects will be completed by the end of 2012 and production will start flowing into markets during the first quarter of 2013.
Other major investment projects already completed by the company include a $250 million investment in latest technology forest equipment that improved efficiency of harvesting, transportation, and reforestation operations by 40%, and the construction of a $50 million new semichemical pulping process that dramatically improved the quality, effectiveness, and ecological friendliness of the company containerboard production at Koryazhma.
"Ilim Group continues to demonstrate that it is the Russian forest industry leader and the largest investor in the Russian pulp, packaging, and paper industry. Currently, our main focus is to successfully complete and startup our big projects. After that, we will start development of our next growth steps, which will include investments focused on building capacity for high quality consumer packaging products for the domestic market, and a second major expansion of our softwood pulping capacity in Siberia to satisfy the growing Chinese and SE Asian demand," Herbert added.
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