Ilim Group Increases Pulp, Paper, Paperboard Output

Ilim Group, St. Petersburg, Russia, reported this week that it has manufactured 635,000 metric tons of market pulp and paper products during the past three months. This is 5% above the performance over the similar period in 2010, and includes 399,000 metric tons of market pulp, which is a 5% increase from the first three months of the previous year. Market containerboard production has also gained 5%, reaching 185,000 tons.

The company's paper output totaled 51,000 metric tons, which is 8% more than in January – March 2010. A total of 16,000 metric tons of sack paper, 25,000 metric tons of offset paper, and 10,000 metric tons of paper for wallpaper manufacturing applications were produced. The company's overall pulping grew by 5%, totaling 679,000 tons.

The total production output of OAO Ilim Gofra (corrugated board and boxes) in the first three months of 2011 has reached 28.2 million square meters, which is 54% more than in the same period of the past year, the company reported. .

International Paper, Memphis, Tenn., USA, is a strategic partner of Ilim Group and the owner of 50% of its shares. Ilim's business assets, located in the Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, and Irkutsk Oblasts, are the largest mills in the Russian forest products industry, accounting for more than 65% of the total pulp production in Russia and more than 25% of the Russian board production. The total annual pulp and paper production volume of the company is more than 2.3 million tons. Ilim Group employs some 20,000 people.

TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/