The company’s Tikhvinksy Lespromkhoz logging operation passed an FSC forest management audit of the 184,000ha of forest it leases as part of its logging business in the country.
Juhani Hongisto, the corporation’s director in charge of forestry and wood sourcing in Russia, said: “The next step in this process will be to apply for the FSC chain of custody for our Russian forestry and wood sourcing organisation and mills.”
UPM Forest Russia purchases about 5 million m3 of wood a year from Tikhvinksy Lespromkhoz, which it acquired a year ago, and more than 200 independent suppliers. About 80% is used in UPM mills in Finland.
