TTJ – Leading Russian forest product group Segezha Group is continuing to invest in its plywood operations and increase output.
In its newly-published financial results for 2019, Segezha said the construction of a new plywood mill with an annual capacity of 125,000m3 of birch plywood began during the year in Galich. The Group also increased its plywood output by 41.1% in 2019.
The increase was enabled by the second line of the Vyatka plywood mill in Kirov, which was commissioned in mid-2018 and reached its design capacity of 192,000m3 a year in 2019.
At the Lesosibirsk plant a project started in 2019 to drive pellet production from 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes per year. And in Sokol, Segehza launched construction of a cross-laminated timber (CLT) facility with a capacity of 50,000m3.
The Group recorded a 1% growth in group revenue in 2019 to RUB58.5bn, with a net income of RUB4.8bn.
“Increase of the production output, implementation of programmes to enhance operational efficiency, and strict control over cost reduction enabled us to improve the Group’s financial performance despite the negative market situation seen in 2019,” said Mikhail Shamolin, president and chairman of the management board of Segezha Group.
The Group’s own logging output grew by 9.4% in 2019 to 4.9 million m3. About 70% of logging operations are now conducted by the Group. Segezha also has paper and sawn timber operations.