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Belarus seeks to add value to its woodworking industry

An archive photo

DOBRUSH, 29 October (BelTA) – Belarus plans to add value to its wood products, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the staff of Dobrush Paper Mill on 29 October, BelTA has learned.

The head of state noted that Belarus is rich in wood resources. However, existing enterprises cannot process wood that overstayed. With this in mind, a dozen pellet factories were built in Belarus. Their products are in great demand, including abroad.

“Three million cubic meters of timber has overstayed. You process only half a million. And we need to process what has overstayed. Birch and aspen will also mature by this time: deciduous trees grow rapidly. We need to create additional capacities to process the wood that can be lost unless harvested,” the president said.

“The question is what we should do next. In the near future the government will report to me on how to add value to semi-finished products instead of selling them, how to build new enterprises. Foreigners are ready to come here. That is, the woodworking industry has good prospects,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

As reported, the government is mulling over a project to launch the production of bleached chemical-thermomechanical mass at the site of Mogilevkhimvolokno. This is actually a semi-finished product for cardboard manufacturing in Dobrush.

According to Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Nazarov, such a facility can cost $200-250 million. Negotiations with an investor are underway. The president instructed to work out the possibility of setting up such an enterprise with the help of the government funds.

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