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05 December 2019, 18:48

Belarusian Forestry Ministry to commission six pellet factories in H1 2020

PRUZHANY DISTRICT, 5 December (BelTA) – The Forestry Ministry intends to commission six factories to make wood pellets in the regions in H1 2020, BelTA learned from Vladimir Shut, Deputy Head of the Manufacturing and Sales Office of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry.

The official said: “Upon instructions of the head of state the Forestry Ministry is busy building six factories to make wooden fuel in order to increase the effectiveness of utilization of forest raw materials. The enterprises will become operational in Pruzhany, Novogrudok, Klichev, Borisov, Mozyr, and Zhitkovichi forestry enterprises in H1 2020. Their total annual output will be close to 156,000 tonnes of pellets.”

About Br75 million in owner capital of the forestry enterprises and credit resources has been invested in building the six enterprises. Up to 80 jobs will be created. Once they reach the designed output capacity, the factories will be able to process up to 350,000m3 of low-grade wood and 120,000-130,000 tonnes of sawdust and lumber waste.

The official explained that the construction of the pellet factories is a pilot project for the Forestry Ministry. The volume of timber harvesting in Belarus doubled in the last ten years. High-grade wood sells well while low-grade wood does not. “We believe we can convert it into fuel pellets,” Vladimir Shut said. “We expect that 99% of the pellets the factories will make will be exported. The forestry enterprises will earn up to $17-18 million every year. It is a promising line of business since the products are in demand in CIS and non-CIS states.” In particular, demand for wood pellets is in place in Lithuania, Latvia. Proposals have been made by Swedish companies. The possibility of selling Belarusian wood pellets to Germany, Austria, and Italy is under consideration.

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