FSC certified forests cover 200 million hectares in 82 countries. Nearly one fourth of them, i.e. about 48 million hectares are located in Russia. Russia also has the highest number of forest management certificates, 186. Totally 25 per cent of forests leased for wood harvesting are FSC certified. In addition, there are 629 chain of custody certificates in Russia. The Russian national FSC forest management standard is currently being updated. …
In the spring, VR Group announced that it seeks new growth by establishing a subsidiary to purchase and operate wagons in Russia. The start-up of the company has progressed rapidly. The first 24 roundwood wagons have been completed and commercial traffic has begun for the first customer. The company operates under the name Finnlog. Source: VR Group
Segezha Group and Karelia Pulp have acquired the previously state-owned logging company Karellesprom. Karellesprom has been so far the largest independent harvesting company in Karelia, with annual allowable cut of 1.2 million cubic meters and actual felling of approximately 0.8 million cubic meters. The privatization process began in 2016. Sources: Segezha Group, Karellesprom, BSRforest news 16.11.2016 (in Finnish)
A new nature protection area ‘Dvinsko-Pinezhski’ has been established in the Arkhangelsk region, with 300 000 hectares of primary forests. The Russian WWF and other environmental organizations took the initiative to protect these forests more than 17 years ago. Negotiations during the protection process were the most difficult with the companies leasing forest in the area. Following the negotiations, it was decided to protect 300,000 hectares of the original 500,000 …
Sergey Anoprienko has been appointed new director of the Russian Forestry Agency. Previously, Anoprienko served as Deputy Director of the State Property Agency (Rosimushchestvo) and has education in administration, management and economics. Ivan Valentik, who headed the Forestry Agency from 2014, resigned in June. He was particularly criticized for his inability to solve the problems of illegal logging. Sources: Minprirody, Kommersant
Segezha Group has ordered from Raute Corporation machinery and equipment for a greenfield plywood mill to be set up in Galich, Kostroma region. The order is worth 58 million euros. The annual production capacity of the new mill will be 125 000 cubic meters, the production will start in 2021. Source: Raute Oyj