Leningrad-Region Administration and Swedwood Company to Negotiate on November, 4

Nov 3, 2003. /Lesprom Network/. Russian Leningrad-region authorities will negotiate with Swedwood (Sweden) on a second-stage furniture mill construction in the city of Tihvin, Leningrad-region administration public-affairs told Lesprom.ru. As Lesprom.ru informed before Swedwood Tihvin company (owned by Swedish Swedwood industrial group) intends to start a second-stage construction of a furniture mill in Tihvin to produce furniture parts. Swedwood CEO Klas Bustrem was quoted as estimating the second-stage construction worth $10 million. The date of the mill launch has not been disclosed. Presently the company is negotiating on the necessary documents with Leningrad-region government. The second-stage furniture mill will allow to double the mill’s capacity to 250 thousand cub m/yr. The second-stage construction includes the installation of a gluing department and aspen and birch procession facilities. The first-stage of the furniture plant to produce furniture parts was launched in July 2002. The mill’s territory is 27 thousand sq m, which houses a terminal for timber reception and sorting, saw-timber department producing 100 thousand cub m/yr, dryers with a capacity of 35 thousand cub m/yr (to be increased to 55 thousand cub m/yr), gluing department (20 thousand cub m/yr), a boiler-room and a railway line. The furniture parts manufactured at Tihvin furniture mill are exported to IKEA mills in Sweden and Central Europe. Swedwood company was founded in 1991 and is owned by IKEA (Sweden). It comprises mills producing furniture and furniture boards, as well as saw-timber enterprises. Presently Swedwood comprises 36 enterprises in 12 countries.