OREANDA-NEWS. January 25, 2008. In the year 2007 Empils' plants manufactured 76, 000 tons of decorative coatings and 14, 000 tons of zinc oxide (zinc white). The data do not take account of the semi-finished varnish used in the production of enamel paints. In the year 2006 the output was 75, 000 and 13, 100 tons respectively.

In 2007 Empils products were sold in Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizia, Mongolia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Italy and Germany. The sales volume of Empils outside Russia was 16% in zinc oxide sector and 27% in paint and varnish sector.

The share of eco-friendly water-based interior and faзade coatings in Empils's portfolio grew from 6% to 8% over 2007, and the absolute growth of water-based products reached 34%.

All in all there were over 200 new commodity items introduced by Empils into the market last year. In the 2007 season Empils created complete market offer for the largest segment — low segment of decorative coatings. In the 2008 season Empils is planning to focus on creating equally attractive and advantageous proposal in middle segment which grows fastest due to the income growth and changes in consumer preferences. In the paint and varnish market Empils partnered 163 distribution companies and 13 international and federal trading networks.

Throughout 2007 Empils' plants were involved in the scheduled upgrading and renewal of production facilities, spending the total of USD 1.5 million. Among other pieces of equipment, 5 bead mills, 1 dissolving drum, 4 filling lines and 4 automatic labeling machines were purchased and the pool of loading and unloading vehicles was brought to date.

In 2007 Empils was issued a new International certificate of conformity of its Quality Management System to the specification of ISO 9001:2000 in the area of development, production and sale of paint and varnish and zinc white. This followed the recertification audit carried out by TÜV Rheinland InterCertaudit company (Germany) to examine the quality of business process management at Empils.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the outputs produced by Empils are the largest and it ranks first in the rating of the largest paint and varnish manufacturers in Russia. In the world rating of the leading manufacturers of coatings, made up annually by Coatings World (USA), Empils ranks 62nd, which is two points higher than in the previous year.