International Paper will consider investing $250 million in the Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill during the next five years, the corporation's president Robert Amen told journalists Monday. The announcement followed a meeting with Leningrad Oblast Governor Valery Serdyukov, Interfax reported.

The investment will be discussed by the international concern's board of directors during the first half of 2004. The injection of cash will be used to increase production capacity, develop new products and pursue environmental protection. As a result, it is expected that wood processing and overall production will go up by 50 percent.

International Paper investment in the mill over the past five years amounted to $150 million, Amen said. Production went up 60 percent during this period. The mill paid around 1 billion rubles in taxes. Sergei Pondar, general director of the Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill, told journalists the mill plans to boost production by 6 percent in 2003. Pondar said the mill leases land capable of yielding 200,000 cubic meters of felled timber per year. The mill consumes 1 million cubic meters of wood a year.

International Paper owns 90 percent of the Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill.

News source: www.sptimes.ru
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