OREANDA-NEWS. May 22, 2009. Raute Corporation has signed a contract worth about Euro 8 million with the Chinese-Russian investment company Henda-Siberia Co LTD to deliver the machinery of a new veneer mill to be built in the Tomsk region in Russia.

The contract comprises a log handling line, a peeling line, and a veneer drying and grading line. The contract is estimated to become effective in June 2009. The machinery deliveries will take place in late 2009 and early 2010.

Henda-Siberia Co LTD is a Russian company owned by Yantai Northwest Forestry Co., Ltd. and the Chinese Investment Promotion Agency of Yantai Economic and Technological Development Area. The new veneer mill will be part of a large wood processing project, Tomsk Industry Garden, realized in cooperation by the Chinese central government and Henda Siberia Co LTD.

This signed contract, once becoming effective, does not have any impact on the previously announced estimate on Raute's 2009 net sales to decline clearly from the previous year and operating profit to be negative.

Raute is a technology company serving the wood products industry worldwide. Its most important customers are the plywood and LVL industries.