The Russian forest products firm, which has recently been under financial pressure, closed the sale of the Shenkursk sawmill in the Arkhangelsk region for US$1m.
The sawmill has an annual capacity of 80,000m3 of sawnwood, but it has no forestry leases nearby and is dependent on third parties for saw logs.
In addition, RusForest recently sold non-core assets in the Ust-Ilimsk region in eastern Siberia for US$2.6m.
The Ust-Ilimsk assets sold include a sawmill with annual sawnwood capacity of 60,000m3 and nearby forestry leases in the Tuba area totalling 55,309ha with 110,000m3 of annual allowable cut.
The sawmill equipment requires additional investment, and the forestry leases have been extensively harvested.
The company has also entered into a preliminary agreement on the sale of its wood pellet production equipment located in Liepaja, Latvia for US$490,000. The equipment has an annual capacity of 80,000 tons, but it has been idle for several years.
Gravel asset, Belomorski Karier, in the Karelia region was sold for US$2.9m.
"The sale of these non-core assets reduces RusForest’s loss-making operations and allows management to focus on improving the company’s core operations," RusForest said.
Meanwhile, RusForest increased production of sawn timber by 47% in the first quarter to 70,412m3.
