BRUSSELS, July 3, 2008 (RISI) - Investlesprom has unveiled plans to install just under 800,000 tonnes/yr of coated paper capacity in Russia, including around 380,000 tonnes/yr of lightweight coated (LWC) paper.
Under the scheme, the firm will modernize its Kama Pulp and Paper Mill in Krasnokamsk, the Perm region, and its Sokol Pulp and Paper Mill in Sokol, in the Vologda region, northwestern Russia.
The Kama Pulp and Paper Mill project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2009. The investment includes the overhaul of PM 7, which currently churns out some 45,000 tonnes/yr of newsprint, to produce 80,000 tonnes/yr of LWC. This will make Investlesprom the first company to manufacture this paper grade in Russia.
The rebuild includes the installation of a new wet-end, an online film coater and an online calender. Investlesprom will also build a new woodyard and modernize the thermomechanical pulp line. The project will cost a total of around Euro 67 million ($105 million).
The project is part of the company’s plan to conquer the Russian coated paper market. The country currently consumes some 400,000 tonnes/yr of coated paper, which is imported from Finland, Germany and other European countries. According to a spokesman at Investlesprom, the firm intends to replace the imported paper with the locally produced coated paper.
“We will be a Russian producer working in the Russian market. Cost advantages will give us an opportunity to offer attractive prices. Our strategy is to become the major player in the domestic market,” the spokesman commented. “We start with this project at Kama Pulp and Paper Mill because this provides us with a unique chance to enter the LWC market within a year,” he added.
The facility houses four paper machines which churn out newsprint, uncoated mechanical paper and packaging paper. It also produces some thermomechanical pulp.
The spokesperson did not reveal the plant’s current pulp and paper capacities.
As well as the Kama Pulp and Paper Mill scheme, Investlesprom has launched a bigger project at the Sokol Pulp and Paper Mill. The firm first plans to build a 300,000 tonne/yr LWC and medium weight coated (MWC) paper machine, PM 1. Production is scheduled to start in the second quater of 2012. The company then aims to install a 400,000 tonne/yr coated paper machine, PM 2 in a second stage. The firm did not reveal when the unit is likely to come on stream.
Sokol Pulp and Paper Mill manufactures 90,000 tonnes/yr of paper on ten machines and some 40,000 tonnes/yr of unbleached sulfite pulp. No decision has been taken yet regarding the current equipment at the facility.
The Investlesprom holding, which was formed in 2006, also controls Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill.
