MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) – The construction of four wood pellet plants in Belarus is nearly in the final stage, BelTA from Belarusian Forestry Minister Vitaly Drozhzha at a press conference on 19 February.
The official said: “Last year we started implementing the head of state's instruction to build six pellet plants. It is a promising business avenue for us, these products sell at a profit. The plants will make about 150,000 tonnes of pellets per annum. Our enterprises are supposed to become operational in the second half of the year. We are doing our best to commission them on 1 June. We are virtually in the final stage of construction at four enterprises. About 70% of the necessary construction and installation work has been done.” The wood pellet plants will be located in Borisov District, Klichev District, Pruzhany District, and Novogrudok District.
As for the enterprises in Zhitkovichi District and Mozyr District, equipment shipments are supposed to begin on 15 March at the latest. “People are already working round-the-clock. The equipment will be installed by 1 June,” the official noted. Apart from that, the Forestry Ministry intends to build another six wood pellet plants by the end of 2021.
The world consumes more than 40 million tonnes of wood pellets per annum. Experts estimate that the figure grows by roughly 1.5 million tonnes every year. The most active consumers of the fuel pellets are Western Europe countries. Asian countries are among perspective buyers. For instance, Japan said it intends to increase the consumption of wood pellets by ten times up to 20 million tonnes by 2030.
