Key forestry results of SPIEF-2023
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Photo: Roscongress, Igor Rodin
We continue summing up the results of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. As part of SPIEF-2023, many deals related to the timber industry were announced, here are the key ones:
- Timber companies of the Vologda Oblast, one of the most affected by the sanctions, will restore production volumes for the main types of products by the end of this year. Export deliveries are reoriented from Europe to the countries of the CIS, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Logging volumes in 2023 will amount to about 15 million m³, which is the average annual indicator for the region over the past ten years.
- The timber holding Segezha Group signed an agreement with the FESCO transport group on the joint development of logistics in domestic and export directions. Cooperation will cover transportation from the Northwestern, Central, Volga and Siberian regions of Russia to the countries of Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean, Turkey, India and China.
- Also, Segezha Group and the Irkutsk region signed an agreement aimed at developing the socio-economic sphere and scientific and technical cooperation, ensuring the environmental safety of the region. One of the promising areas of cooperation is the development of wooden housing construction. A pilot project is currently being implemented in Baikalsk to build wooden low-rise residential buildings using CLT panels and other glued wooden structures.
- Gazprom Neft and the Federal Forestry Agency signed an agreement on the joint development and promotion of forest climate projects - this is a promising area for cooperation between business and the state.
- The government of the Vologda Oblast has agreed on investments in the amount of 26.6 billion rubles. The projects will be implemented in the timber industry complex, as well as in the field of chemistry and metallurgy.
- Multi-storey houses from CLT-panels will be built in the Moscow region: Segezha Group and the Samolet group of companies signed an agreement of intent in the development of multi-storey residential wooden housing construction.
- RusTimber Pskov will invest 1.2 billion rubles. in the development of plywood production, 330 jobs will be created in the process.
- Hyatt Consumer Goods is expanding the production of tissue paper in the Kaluga region: investments have already exceeded 12 billion rubles, about 500 jobs have been created. In the short term - an increase in production capacity by 30%. Additional investments will amount to about 680 million rubles.
Olga Kalyuzhnaya, President of the Russian Forest Association: “Despite the difficult times, the Russian timber industry remains an investment-attractive business sector and one of the most profitable. The payback period for projects in the sawmill industry averages 5-7 years, in the wood-based panel industry - 6-8 years. Compared to other sectors of the economy, the return on sales in this industry is 10–25%. This creates attractive conditions for investors to invest and receive profits”.
