World Bank Considering USD 7-Million Loan for Kotlass Pulp and Paper Mill - 28 March, 2003

The World Bank is examining the possibility of giving the Kotlass pulp and paper mill (Arkhangelsk Region) a USD 7-million loan. According to Ilim Pulp Enterprise's press office, the loan will be spent on modernizing production and introducing up-to-date environmental technology.

The loan will be awarded as part of the investment programme in improving the environment, which was launched in 1996. The project is being coordinated by the Russian Finance Ministry and the terms of the loan will be set by Vneshtorgbank. The Russian company would like to increase the size of the loan from USD 7 million to USD 11 million.

Ilim Pulp Enterprise was registered on April 30, 1992. The company is one of the world's ten largest producers of trade pulp and a world leader in terms of timber reserves and logging. Ilim Pulp Enterprise (St. Petersburg) includes the following companies: the Bratsk timber plant, the Ust-Ilim timber plant, the Kotlass pulp and paper plant, the St. Petersburg cardboard and printing plant and 42 logging enterprises in the Arkhangelsk and Irkutsk regions, as well as the PetroBoard Trading company, the Ilim Gofropack plant, the Fintrans logistics company, the Kommunarvtorresursy plant, and the Plzenska Papirna recycling plant in the Czech Republic. The company employs 47,000 people.

The Kotlass pulp and paper mill accounts for about 15% of Russian pulp production and 20% of cardboard production. In 2002 the plant produced 798,000 tonnes of pulp and paper products, of which 68% were sold abroad. The planned capacity of the plant is 950,000 tonnes of pulp and around 300,000 tonnes of cardboard a year. The company's assets are worth approximately USD 186 million.