Arkaim's Sawmill Started Full-scale Operation

JV Arkaim LLC, a large-scale lumber exporting company in Khabarovsk in Russia, made a presentation at Shinjuku Park Tower in Tokyo on November 25. At the presentation, General Director Alexander Lepihov and executive officers of the company, who were visiting to Japan, jointly with the staff of its Japanese contact point SHINRYOKU Co., Ltd., explained the current situation of the company to the Japanese guests of 22 companies or 34 people.

Arkaim, which had been exporting logs toward Japan, has established a sawmill and started full-scale operation this autumn. It has got FSC certification in both logs and lumber. More than that, the company is planning to build six factories including a particle board factory, a pellet factory, and a laminated lumber factory. When all of them start operation, it will consume 1,100,000 cubic meters of logs and produce 700,000 cubic meters of products per year.

President Lepihov's Speech

Production lines of our sawmill have gone into full-scale operation after the testing phase. By the end of December, we would like to raise the volume of manufactured lumber to 20,000 cubic meters per month. The production line for particle boards is in the testing phase. This is a full-automatic line, which is having a check at the moment. We are planning to finish the tests in December and start operation from next year.

In the complex, a total of six factories are scheduled to be constructed, and 80% of which are ready. Investment amount is $200 million for the first phase and $300 million for the second phase, for which we have finished all the negotiations with banks. We are planning to build a sawmill and a particle board factory in the first phase; and a pellet factory, laminated wood factory, and a factory to do final finish in the second phase.

Potential destinations of the products are Japan, China, Korea, and Europe. Among them, we think Japan as the most important country. We started dealings of logs with Japan ten years ago, and in the future, we would like to deal in semi-finished and finished products, too.