Russian Forestry and Wood Supply Operations Analysis
86
KOMI REPUBLIC
account for 14.7 per cent, of which birch accounts
for 10.9 per cent and aspen for 3.8 per cent.
The natural environment and old growth stands,
which may be used for timber harvesting and
become a commercial resource, are spread very
unevenly over the republic's territory. Raw timber
resources at traditional harvesting locations
along public railways and motor roads have
been depleted. The proportion of mature and
old growth forests is negligible. The main reserves
of mature and old growth stands are in the north-
western and north-eastern forest districts of the
region, where there are low levels of transport
accessibility.
Experts believe that the environmental situation
in the forests of the Komi Republic is satisfactory.
The main difference between the forests of the
Komi Republic and other regions is availability
of vast tracts of virgin forests that have never
been affected by human activity and man-made
impacts. In 1995, according to a resolution made
by UNESCO, the United Nations educational,
science and cultural orgainization, the Pechora-
Ilych preserve (together with a protective and
buffer zone), and the Yugyd Va national park,
were listed as a UNESO heritage site under the
common name "Virgin Komi Forests". The total
area of these forests is 3.3 million ha. It is the
largest of the primary forest areas of those that
remain in Europe.
THE FORESTRY AND TIMBER
SECTOR (FTS)
In recent years, a steady trend toward an increase
in the scale of forest utilization has been observed
in the Komi Republic. In particular, from 2011 to
2014, total forest utilization increased from 7.2
to 8.5 million m³, or by 18 per cent.
Harvesting, wood processing, and pulp and paper
companies are represented in the republic's timber
industry. The FTS in Komi is one of the leading
sectors of the region's economy as measured by
its share of manufacturing industry output, size
of tax deduction to the budget, foreign currency
revenues, size of its fixed assets, and number
of jobs.
Development priorities in the regional timber
sector include the gradual abandonment of exports
of unprocessed timber and an increase in the social
and economic efficiency of the sector through
the integrated and rational use of available
timber resources. Knowing the features of the
existing production structure, regional forest
resources, and their current use, the basic lines
of development are the processing of low-grade
timber, in particular by pulp and paper and
fiberboard facilities; deeper mechanical processing
of timber, forest chemistry, and bioenergy in terms
of both biofuel production development and the
larger scope of its use in the region.
The region's government gives special attention to
bioenergy sector development. For this purpose,
a network of grounds for temporary wood waste
storage is being arranged. The availability of such
grounds not only reduces the adverse impact
#6 (2015) RUSSIAN t
FORESTRY
of waste on the environment, but also creates
favorable conditions for their use in biofuel
production, in particular fuel briquettes and
pellets, and in thermal and electrical energy
generation. By now, four such grounds are
already in operation in the region: in the Adjerom
settlement and the village of Mordino (in the
Kortkeros District), the Zheshart settlement (in
the Ust-Vym District), and the village of Ust-Kulov
(in the Ust-Kulom District).
In addition the republic's budget grants subsidies
for compensation of a part of costs of setting
up fuel briquette and pellet productions. This
approach, on the part of the region's authorities,
has promoted the appearance of new facilities in
the region; a new branch of the FTS is forming
in the region, oriented at integrated use of raw
timber and biofuel production.
Also, a strategic line of development of the FTS
of the Komi Republic is the construction of a
second timber industry cluster (in addition to
the existing Mondi Syktyvkar LPK). The Komi
Republic is one of the few regions in European
Russia that has the necessary forest resources
to develop pulp and paper and fiberboard
production. For the construction of a pulp and
paper mill, Troitsko-Pechorsk District is the most
favorable. According to expert calculations, timber
resource extraction within the radius of 200
km from the expected mill site is evaluated at
6 million m3 of timber per year. To enable pulp
and paper production, water resources are also
needed, and Troitsko-Pechorsk District has them
for the future facility: river water may be used
for processing needs, and flow well waters, for
drinking. However, the district is only partially
able to provide transport accessibility for the
new facility. There are two republic-level motor
roads, to Ukhta and to Syktyvkar, but the road
network within the district is poorly developed,
and there is no river harbor. Troitsko-Pechorsk
has a railway station, and that railway joins the
strategic Moscow-Vorkuta trunk railroad. In the
future, access to the BelkomUr line now under
construction will also be possible.
Prospective investment sites for timber processing
facilities are located near the Mezhdurechensk and
Verkhneizhemsky settlements, and have a reserve
for timber harvesting of up to 300,000 m³ per
year, and access to railway infrastructure. Apart
from sawn timber production, a pellet facttory
could be set up there, with a capacity of up to
90,000 t/year.
In addition, existing timber processing facilities
have significant potential for expansion and
development.
KEY ENTERPRISES
IN THE FOREST AND TIMBER
SECTOR OF THE KOMI REPUBLIC
Mondi Syktyvkar JSC (in Syktyvkar) is the one
of the leaders in the pulp and paper industry
and Russia's largest paper product manufacturer.
The mill specializes in office and offset paper
and makes newsprint and top liner board and
softwood market pulp. The company operates
one cardboard machine and three papermaking
machines and a pulp dryer, a wood yard and
sulfate cellulose areas, a cogeneration plant,
and a set of water treatment plants. Mondi's
timber supply chain includes forest growing,
harvesting, road construction, timber haulage,
and forest management. In 2010, the company
implemented a STEP project, one of the largest
investment projects in Russia's pulp and paper
industry in the last 30 years (545 million euros).
This resulted in updated technologies, higher
safety and environmental protection of the facility,
higher product quality and competitiveness, and
higher overall efficiency.
The mill's total output is about 1 million tons of
finished products per year. In 2014, the facility
made 723,200 m³ of paper (0.2 per cent more
than in 2013) and 273,900 m³ of cardboard, which
is 3 per cent more than in 2013. The company
and subsidiaries employ about 6,000 personnel.
Syktyvkar Tissue Group LLC (in Syktyvkar) is
one of Russia's leading manufacturers of tissue
paper and base hygiene paper. The company's
products are in high demand with many users and
are well-known on Russian and Commonwealth
of Independent States markets due to its high
quality. Currently, the company employs about
600 people.
Syktyvkar Plywood Factory (in Syktyvkar) is one
of Russia's largest manufacturers of large-size
plywood and wood-based furniture boards. The
factory's products are used by leading construction
and furniture companies in Russia, Europe, and
America. In 2014, the factory made over 200,000
m³ of plywood (of which, more than one half was
laminated) and over 300,000 m³ of chipboards.
The factory employs about 1,500 people.
Zheshart Plywood Plant LLC (Zheshart settlement,
Ust-Vym District) is one of the three largest timber
industry companies in the Komi Republic; in terms
of birch plywood output, it is a leader in the North-
Western Federal District. The company makes a
broad range of products, including 300 types of
plywood of different size and thickness, laminated
plywood, and medium density fiberboards /
chipboards. In 2014, the combine manufactured
over 150,000 m³ of plywood, of which nearly
one-third was laminated, and about 8 million
m² (conditional) of MDF boards. Currently, the
company's staff exceeds 1,700 people.
Knyazh-Pogost Fiberboard Factory is one of
Russia's largest companies making hard fiberboard
by the wet method. Its regular customers are
companies in the construction, furniture, and
automobile industries. Last year, the factory made
about 12.5 million m² (conditional) of fiberboards.
The factory's employs more than 300 people.
SevLesPil LLC (in Syktyvkar) was established
in May 2000, with commercial product output
starting in 2002. Since then, the company has
become the leading sawn softwood timber
producer in the Komi Republic. Raw materials
are supplied to the facility by its own harvesting
division and by the region's largest harvesters.
The main product is sawn softwood timber. Over
190,000 m³ of sawn timber was produced in 2014.
The company employs more than 400 people.
SLDK Severny Les LLC (second name: Syktyvkar
LDK, Syktyvkar) specializes in the production of
sawn timber for the worldwide market. Nearly
180,000 m³ of sawn timber was produced in 2014.
The sawmill employs more than 600 people.
Luzales LLC, Syktyvkar: This sawmill is a leading
harvesting and wood processing facility in the
republic. Its products are sold not only on the
Russian market but also on markets in Western
Europe and the Middle East. The sawmill runs a full
cycle of timber processing, and makes sawn timber
and high quality planed and glued/laminated
timber products.
Norwood SM, Syktyvkar, is a subsidiary of Norvik
Group of Iceland. The company's main activities
are timber harvesting, timber processing, trade in
sawn timber, and its shipping within Russia. The
sawmill is located in Syktyvkar and specializes
in sawn softwood timber, both of natural
humidity and shipping dry. Ninety per cent of
the company's products are sold outside Russia.
More than 40,000 m³ of sawn timber was produced
by the company in 2014.
PechoraEnergoResurs LLC (Troitsko-Pechorsk
settlement), which has been operating since 2007,
is one of the most rapidly developing companies
in the Russian timber processing industry. The
company's assets comprise a harvesting division
and an added-value timber processing factory
making softwood trim moldings and birch furniture
boards, as well as wood fuel pellets and conifer
essential oil. The company's employs slightly less
than 150 people.
Azimut LLC (Troitsko-Pechorsk settlement) is a
priority investment project for forest management
in the Komi Republic, the goal of which is to
establish a new hi-tech timber processing complex
including harvesting, wood processing, and
generation of electric and thermal energy from
wood waste. All the components of the project
suggest the use of the best available technologies.
The first phase of the project was completed
in August 2012, with the commissioning of the
sawmill area and production of fuel briquettes
from wood waste. Expected annual product output
after reaching the full-scale capacity will be over
80,000 m³ of sawn timber, over 5,000 m³ of planed
trim moldings, 10,000 m³ of laminated beams,
and 5,000 m³ of furniture boards. Allotted to
the company are forest resources with an annual
harvesting volume of nearly 400,000 m³. Timber
harvested in 2014 was about 70,000 m³. The
company employs about 150 people.
Lesozavod No. 1 LLC (Kazluk settlement, Ust-
Vym District). Having built and commissioned
a new sawmill in August 2013, the company
implemented the first phase of the project to
construct a factory for the manufacturing of
wooden house structural elements. The sawmill's
design capacity is 120,000 m³ of dry sawn timber
per year. A wooden-house-component production
facility is planned for commissioning in 2016.
Investment in the project is calculated at more
than 1 billion rubles.
Syktyvkar Integrated Industrial Plant, LLC,
Syktyvkar, is the leader in wooden house
construction in the Komi Republic. The enterprise
specializes in design and construction of up-to-
date wooden structures for the construction of
individual residential houses, blocks of flats, social
facilities, and other industrial/business facilities.
The plant has set up manufacturing of certified
wooden construction elements: wooden framework
panels, solid wooden panels using Massiv-Holz-
Mauer (MHM) technology, laminated beams, and
roof frames. In addition, the enterprise produces
laminated boards and a broad range of high-
quality wooden finishing materials (Euro battens,
decorative battens, imitation beams, floor planks
etc.). In 2014, the company made more than 150
million rubles' worth of marketable products. The
company employs slightly less than 140 people.
Maria ALEKSEYEVA
Government authorities responsible for forest industry
Head of Komi Republic
Gaizer Vyacheslav Mikhailovich
Russian Federation, 167000, Komi Republic,
Syktyvkar
Ul. Kommunisticheskaya, 9
Tel.: +7 (8212) 28-51-05, 28-51-12, 28-51-70
fax +7 (8212) 21-43-84
[email protected], www.gov.rkomi.ru
regulation of Komi Republic
Ministry of Development of Industry and
Transport of Komi Republic
Minister Samodelkin Andrey Nikolaevich
Russian Federation, 167982, Komi Republic,
Syktyvkar
Ul. Internatsional'naya, 157
Tel.: +7 (8212) 24-03-48, 24-06-21
fax +7 (8212) 21-62-14, 24-40-37
[email protected]
www.minprom.rkomi.ru
Ministry of Economic Development
of Komi Republic
Minister Barshmakov Vladimir Vladimirovich
Russian Federation, 167000, Komi Republic,
Syktyvkar
Ul. Internatsional'naya, 108
Tel. +7 (8212) 25-53-01, fax +7 (8212) 25-53-11
[email protected], www.econom.rkomi.ru
Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection of Komi
Republic
Minister Polshvedkin Roman Viktorovich
Russian Federation, 167000, Komi Republic,
Syktyvkar
Ul. Internatsional'naya, 108A
Tel. +7 (8212) 24-07-44
fax +7 (8212) 44-13-90
[email protected], www.mpr.rkomi.ru
Forestry Committee of Komi Republic
Chief Shliamin Andrey Valerievich
Russian Federation, 167982, Komi Republic,
Syktyvkar
Ul. Internatsional'naya, 108A
Tel. +7(8212) 20-57-87
fax +7 (8212) 20-57-87, 24-43-27
[email protected]
www.komles.rkomi.ru
RUSSIAN #6 (2015)
FORESTRYU
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