OREANDA-NEWS. January 27, 2010. Vyborgskaya Cellulose is building the world's largest wood pellet plant at its facility in Russia near the border with Finland. Production capacity will be over 900,000 tons per year. Construction of the plant is underway and productionis planned to start in the 3Q of 2010, the company said in a press release.

Vyborgskaya Cellulose has appointed Ekman & Co to be its exclusive sales agent. In addition to sales, Ekman & Co will also assist Vyborgskaya Cellulose with services in finance, risk management, logistics and administration.

The raw material for pellets consists primarily of logs from Russia and Belarus, which is partly FSC-certified. The timber will be supplied to the plant by rail.

Vyborgskaya Cellulose is well placed geographically with short distances to all key markets. The main port for export will be the Port of Vyborg and pellets will be transported the short distance from the factory by rail and truck.

"With the new plant in place, we will be able to increase the supply of renewable energy, which is in great demand," says Aleksey Kazmin, CEO, OJSC Vyborgskaya Cellulose.

End users of the pellets will mainly be power and cogeneration plants across Europe.

"The market for wood pellets and other bioenergy products is growing in line with the increasingly stringent political requirements to reduce carbon dioxide.

emissions,"says Johan Granath, Head of Bioenergy division at Ekman & Co.

International technology Group Andritz will supply all process equipment for the pellet plant including debarking and chipping lines, chip handling system, belt dryers, as well as hammer and pellet mills.

Vyborgskaya Cellulose was established in 1927 and produces pulp, corrugated paper and wall paper base.

Ekman & Co was established in 1802 and is one of the world's leading sales and marketing organizations focusing on the global forest industry. Ekman & Co is active in pulp, paper, bioenergy products, recovered materials and forest products derivatives.