OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2007. UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium and alumina producer, announced plans to construct a packaging foil plant near the city of Dmitrov in the Moscow region. The project investment will amount to approximately USD 20 million. The plant will have an overall capacity of 20,000 tonnes of packaging foil per year and will increase UC RUSAL’s share of the Russian foil and foil-based packaging market by up to 66%.

Construction will begin in 2008 with first production scheduled for the end of 2009. UC RUSAL packaging division has developed a preliminary feasibility study. A final feasibility study is currently being undertaken by the engineering and construction division of UC RUSAL, responsible for the design, construction and launch of new projects. 

The foil for the plant will be shipped from Armenal, Sayanal, and Ural foil, UC RUSAL’s major foil mills. The new plant will be equipped with technologically advanced machinery from the world’s leading manufacturers of machines used for the cutting, stamping, lamination, and gluing of foil products. 

The packaging products produced at the plant will be shipped to the Russian market to meet demand, which has recently demonstrated 5.8% average annual growth. Potential clients include well-known food and pharmaceuticals manufacturers, such as the Moscow Processed Cheese Spread Plant Karat, Wrigley, Craft Foods, the Moscow Endocrine Plant, the Shelkovo Vitamine Plant and United Confectioners Holding, including Moscow majors Rot Front, Red October, Babayevsky Confectionery, and others.

Alexander Burdin, Packaging Division Director said: “Thanks to the unique properties of foil, aluminium lies at the heart of the packaging industry. For this reason UC RUSAL is investing in new capacities and modernisation of existing plants. The fast growing market is forcing manufacturers to expand and renew their range of products. Today we are manufacturing foil-based products in Russia that comply with the highest international quality standards. We will continue to development and plan to double the production of our alufoil-based flexible packaging in Russia within three years.”