Paper production increased by 15%, to 59,000 metric tons, including 22,000 metric tons of sack paper, 30,000 metric tons of offset paper, and 7,000 metric tons of wallpaper. Board production during the first quarter of 2012 was 124,000 metric tons, decreasing 2.5% compared with the same period in 2011.The slight reduction in board output has been triggered by the changing ratio of sack paper and board output with more sack paper to satisfy the market demand. Pulp production grew by 3%, totaling 288,000 metric tons in the first quarter.
The company's OAO corrugated box business in the Leningrad Oblast increased production by more than 4%, producing 29,400,000 sq meters of corrugated products in the first quarter of 2012.
In the first quarter, Ilim Group's Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk mills in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, produced 363,000 metric tons of pulp and paper products, approximately equaling output in the first quarter of 2011. This includes 314,000 metric tons of market pulp, a 2% increase from the same period in 2011.
Board production at Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk totaled 48,500 metric tons, a decrease of 16% compared with output in the first quarter of 2011. Improved corrugating technologies have boosted demand for thinner board, the company notes, resulting in lower tonnages but almost the same number of sq meters produced.
TAPPI
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