Russia’s Sveza Group has invested US$38m in new facilities to produce large size panels at two of its plywood mills – Fanplit-2 in Kostroma and Ust-Izhora at St Petersburg.
Planned capacity totals 100,000m3 of large size panels per year – 40,000m3 at Ust-Izhoraa and 60,000m3 from Fanplit-2 – bringing the Sveza Group’s total production capacity up to 240,000m3 of birch plywood per year.
Sveza Group’s marketing director Vladimir Danilov said the majority of equipment was supplied by Raute Wood of Finland. Other suppliers included Cremona of Italy, ValonCone of Finland and Kuper of Germany.
He added: ‘The new facilities allow production of the widest plywood in Russia – a whole range of large size panels with different thickness and sizes.’
The large size panels are made in full accordance with the demands of both Russian and international standards and the company’s quality system is certified in accordance with ISO 9001.
Meanwhile, the company has also announced it is to establish a plant in Riga, Latvia at a cost of e5m to be closer to its clients which are mainly in the construction, transport and furniture sectors in western Europe and Scandinavia.
The plant is projected to handle 2,000-3,000m3 of plywood a month or around 25,000-30,000m3 a year, with an initial turnover of e10m and employing 100 people.
