Ilim Group’s delegation attended the work sessions of SPW 2024 and held a series of meetings with key partners in China

Shanghai Pulp Week celebrating its 10th anniversary welcomed more than 700 world’s largest pulp and board manufacturers, traders, and service suppliers from 30 countries. The forum is one of the most significant international events in the global pulp industry.

Aleksei Lomko, Ilim Group’s CEO, came up with a speech on the forestry and pulp and paper business in Russia at the industry session and presented Ilim’s new KLB Mill in Ust-Ilimsk to the international industrial community.

“The export market landscape for Russian manufacturers has changed dramatically shifting from Western to Asian markets. This process was rather painful for some of them, but the operation model did not change for Ilim with its 28-year footprint in the Chinese market. On the contrary, the current environment confirmed that the Company had selected the right strategy earlier by placing stakes on China”, Aleksei Lomko commented.

Ilim Group is the largest global supplier of premium virgin board to China, goes second with its supplies of unbleached softwood pulp and is ranked third with bleached softwood pulp. The Company’s main goal is to ensure the efficient launch of its virgin board from the KLB Mill with the best strength properties in the Chinese market. The mills’ unique location (two of Ilim’s three mills are located in the Irkutsk Oblast close to the Chinese border) facilitates fast, efficient, and stable kraftliner supplies to the Chinese market.

Based on 2023 results, the volume of the contracts signed in the Company’s key market reached record-high 2.05 million tons of products, including 1.646 million tons of pulp and 405 thousand tons of board. This is a 19.3% increase versus 2022. In 2024, Ilim Group is planning to increase its sales in the Chinese market to 2.4 million tons, including up to 550,000 of premium board (fiber kraftliner) from Ust-Ilimsk.

About Ilim Group:

Ilim Group is the leader of the Russian pulp and paper industry and one of the industry leaders globally. The Company is one of the world’s top seven producers of bleached softwood pulp and kraftliner. In Russia, the company accounts for 77% of all market pulp, 16% of packaging materials, and 25% of white papers produced. About half of Ilim products are exported to China, where the Company is the leading player in the wood-free corrugated materials segment. Apart from its key Russian and Chinese markets, Ilim also prioritizes the markets of the Middle East, India, Africa, and Latin America.