Ust-Ilim Pulp and Cardboard Mill

History

2024: Pulp and cardboard mill launch for $ ₽100 billion

On October 10, 2024, it became known that in Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk Region, the official launch of a new pulp and cardboard mill (CCC) took place, investments in which amounted to about ₽100 billion. The project was implemented by the Ilim group and has become one of the largest in the timber industry in Russia in recent years.

The launch of the plant was reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin via videoconference by the director of the Ilim group Alexei Lomko and the governor of the Irkutsk region Igor Kobzev. Implementation of the project began in 2018, and permission for commissioning was obtained in February 2024.

source = Photo of the press service of the government of the Irkutsk region

The design capacity of the new CCC is 600 thousand tons of pure cellulose packaging cardboard per year, which makes it the third largest production of this product in the world. The quality of the products corresponds to the world's leading analogues and is used for the production of packaging of household appliances and food products.

Alexey Lomko noted that in terms of technology, the scale of automation and digitalization of production processes, the new plant is one of the most modern pulp and paper enterprises in the world. The central element of the plant was the most powerful cardboard machine in Russia with a canvas width of 9.6 meters, capable of producing products at a speed of 1200 meters per minute.

After the new production reached its design capacity in 2025, the total volume of pulp and paper products produced in Ust-Ilimsk will reach 1.5 million tons, which is 2.5 times the initial design capacity of the plant launched in the 1980s.

The implementation of the project made it possible to create 850 new jobs. It is expected that after reaching the design capacity, additional tax revenues to the consolidated budget of the Irkutsk region will amount to ₽1,5 billion per year.^[1]

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