MINSK, 15 September (BelTA) – Three enterprises to make wood pellets will be commissioned in Belarus by the end of the year, BelTA learned from Belarusian First Deputy Forestry Minister Valentin Shatravko on 15 September.
The official said: “Our enterprises do not make only sawn timber. We've been recently exploring such business avenues as the drying of sawn timber and wood pellet production. Seven wood pellet plants were commissioned last year. Three ones have been commissioned this year already and another three will be commissioned by the end of the year. These plants allow using up the low-grade wood that we couldn't sell in the past. Today we can make it part of the business activity.”
In his words, all the pellet plants which were commissioned in 2020 operate at full capacity now. The products sell well. “Naturally prices are not so high in between seasons like now but even they allow turning a profit. If we talk about further development of pellet manufacturing, the Forestry Ministry has passed the relevant program. We clearly follow the program. Nothing impedes and nothing presents difficulties for the development of these pellet plants at present,” Valentin Shatravko added.
It is also worth noting that wood pellet production is developed on the basis of saw mills in order to better utilize the saw mills' waste wood. “In the past we used to bury the saw dust and didn't know what to do with it or shipped it to agricultural enterprises. Now the development of wood pellet manufacturing allows us to make additional products out of the waste enterprises generate,” he added.
