OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2011. Belarus plans to start building chipboard-making plants with Austrian Egger and Kronospan in 2011, Forestry Minister Mikhail Amelyanovich told reporters.

“It is planned to build two plants with foreign capital invested by Austrian Egger and Kronospan. The latter will be building a plant in Smorgon, and the former, in Minsk Region’s Borisov District. The plants will be making boards of various types using local raw materials, including pulpwood and technical wood,” Amelyanovich said.

The capacity of the new productions remains undisclosed. The minister said investments in the new plants would be “substantial.” Talks are still underway with investors, and investment plans are revised, however, the construction is to start this year, he said.

Belarus is also in talks with Belarusian-Swedish Beltitan over a possible creation of a pellet-making facility in Vitebsk Region.

It was previously reported that Austrian Egger would invest about 200 million euros in the construction of a plant producing chipboard in Belarus. “The government mulls creating a production of chipboards by Austrian Egger in the village of Peresady, in Borisov district. The production will require up to 700,000 cubic meters of pulpwood annually,” Amelyanovich said earlier.

The Belarusian Economy Ministry and Austrian Kronospan Holdings East Limited signed an investment agreement to create a 150 million euro woodworking production in Belarus. The deal was inked during the Belarus Investment Forum in Frankfurt am Main on November 17. Kronospan plans to create a woodworking production in Belarus’ Smorgon, in the Grodno Region, worth a total of 150 million euros. It is planned to produce five types of products in Smorgon – particle board, laminated chip board, medium density fiberboard, waferboard and floor panels.