By the end of the year SCA's new tissue mill south of Moscow will start production. The tissue is needed for the booming Russian market.
Mats Berencreutz (second from the left), president of SCA Tissue Europe, visited Tula in October last year, where he toured the site of the future tissue mill and met the project team and the SCA Russian and Eastern management.
In November 2006 SCA signed an investment agreement with local authorities in Russia to build a tissue mill in the city of Sovetsk in the Tula region, south of Moscow.
The design and project work were completed during the past year, and necessary permits were obtained. In September SCA signed a land lease and received permission to build the mill. The Tula mill plans to start production in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Russia is a fast-growing tissue market, with 9 percent annual growth by volume. SCA introduced Zewa to the market in 1997, and now the brand is a market leader in Russia with a 40 percent share. SCA’s manufacturing facility in Svetogorsk, in the St. Petersburg area, has no spare capacity, and it currently imports 10,000 tons of tissue mother reels each year to help meet total annual demand of 55,000 tons.
The Tula region for the new mill was chosen for its attractive geographical position, well developed infrastructure and interest and support from the local authorities in planning and completing the project.
The mill will have an annual tissue capacity of 30,000 tons at first, and the initial stage is expected to cost 70 million euros. The tissue produced in the mill will be distributed and sold in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
From SCA's corporate magazine SHAPE 4/2007.