12 December 2024
From December 5 to 6, VIII International Conference “Pulp and Paper Industry of Russia – New Realities, New Opportunities” was held in Istanbul. It was run by the Union of Timber Industrialists and Forest Exporters of Russia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, and Association of Specialists of the Pulp and Paper Industry (ASPPI). The conference members included representatives of industrial undertakings in the sector, including Volga JSC, as well as investors and manufacturers from Russia, Türkiye, China, Canada and other countries.
The business program was opened by Vice President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dmitri Kurochkin and President of the Union of Timber Industrialists and Forest Exporters of Russia, Miron Tatsiun. In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Tatsiun kept up to speed on investment projects implemented by domestic pulp and paper companies and noted, in particular, that Volga JSC has mastered manufacture of new products in the segment of packaging papers in 2024. According to him, the pulp and paper industry is a leader among manufacturing industries: the structure of its economic and production processes can become a baseline model for implementation of a closed-loop economy.
Dmitri Kurochkin noted that the Russian CCI has never kept out of forest industry complex challenges, and spoke about systemic work being performed to support specialized enterprises at this conjuncture of export restrictions, suspension of service maintenance and supplies of equipment by foreign companies: over 11 months of this year, preferential financing in the amount of almost 8 bln rubles was approved for more than 20 projects from 17 regions of the country. “Russian pulp and paper industry has demonstrated resilience to current challenges and restrictions,” shared his views Dmitri Kurochkin.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, Oleg Bocharov told about the policy being implemented to support domestic manufacturers of pulp and paper products, in which the pressing issue of abolition of export duty on interliner was resolved and a national project for technological self-sufficiency of pulp and paper companies was launched. He also noted the need to maintain robust associations with foreign markets: “The roof must be fixed before it starts to rain”, so we all need to look to the future and prepare a new “green” agenda for industrial breakthrough that will be provided by both the government and private investment, and this will become our important competitive advantage in global distribution of future markets.”
The conference business program included five panel discussions. General Director of “Volga” JSC, Sergei Pondar took part in “Analysis of key trends and prospects for pulp and paper sector development” discussion. He devoted his report to main challenges of the sector and prerequisites for its development, among which he noted establishment of relations with Chinese equipment suppliers, the need to dialog with authorities regarding development of sector support instruments and solution of “long-term” project funding issue, solution of logistics problems, in particular, with rail transport and export deliveries of pulp and paper products. Also, according to Sergei Pondar, one of the main negative trends is the growth of tariffs of natural monopolies outpacing inflation. If tariffs continue to rise at the same rate, the sector may have to finish with any investments in the development. Now, many investment projects of pulp and paper companies yield little if any profit and, given this fact, it is necessary to develop new state support tools and use the existing ones, such as SPIC, CCEP, PGF.
“In current reality, pulp and paper companies need to share their experience and engage in dialog with authorities,” Sergei Pondar emphasized.
In addition, the General Director of Volga JSC acted as the moderator of “Technological self-sufficiency of the sector” panel discussion, where heads and representatives of KAMA, Yun Chou, A-Technology and the B1 Group spoke out.
The experts discussed how to arrange the process of import phase-out in current realities, how to establish interaction with Chinese equipment suppliers, and localize the production process, how to find efficient solutions in foreign economic activities and so on.
The Conference culminated in presentation of “2024 National Pulp and Paper Award.” Sergei Pondar, JSC Volga, was named the “General Director of the Year” by the Expert Council of the Award. The Russian National Award of Pulp and Paper Sector is an international professional award for highest excellence among leaders in product manufacturing, and the received award is a symbol of recognition of merits of the entire Company team and significant contribution of the Company to the development of the sector.
Media Office of Volga JSC
