In 2021, Ilim Group celebrates an important anniversary, namely 25 years since the company started exporting its products to China. Over that time, Ilim has built a reputation of a reliable partner and has become one of the largest suppliers of bleached softwood pulp to the People’s Republic of China. The company plans to further expand its presence and increase its share in the Chinese market.
Ilim has summed up the results of its export operations in China in 2020. It reached a record-high export volume of 1.66m tons (including 1.49m tons of pulp and 170,000 tons of paperboard), which is 33.2 times higher than export volumes in 1996 when Ilim first entered the Chinese market. Over these years, aggregate export volumes of pulp and paper products have totalled 22.7m tons.
The company will continue to increase its exports to all regions where it operates and especially to Central and South China. In 2021, Ilim plans to ramp up its exports to China up to 1.7m tons of products, including an increase of paperboard export volumes up to 200,000 tons. In 2024, Ilim Group intends to increase its exports to China up to 2.4m tons.
According to Ksenia Sosnina, Ilim Group CEO, the China is a strategically important market, as 44% of all its pulp and paper products there.
The Silk Road plays a significant role in unleashing of Ilim’s export potential with the flow of goods transported via the Silk Road increased by 171% over the last year. Despite the pandemic, Ilim’s flexible and extended logistics network helped to ensure 100% of sales volumes. An increase of exports will be possible through implementation of a large-scale investment program. By 2024, Ilim Group will increase the aggregate output of its mills by 1m tons of finished products. Construction of a new pulp and paperboard mill in Ust-Ilimsk with a capacity of 600,000 tons is one of Ilim’s key projects which will be started up in 2022.
