The Ministry on Industry and Trade of the Russian federation has made a decision at the beginning of June to take OOO Koskisilva, the subsidiary of Koskisen Group operating in Sheksna Russia, on the list of priority investors of forest industy. Koskisen is the first Finnish forestry company that has made it to the above-mentioned list in Russia.

Placement on the list gives Koskisen the right to rent forest usage rights from Russia for 49 years without auction procedure . In addition the investor has to pay only half of the normal forest rent for the payback time of the project's expenses.

The director of Koskisen Russian operations, Heikki Alanne, is extremely pleased with the long-awaited decision.

-Rented forests ensure raw material acquisition to OOO Koskisilva birch sawmill and the planned birch plywood mill. Due to the economic recession the immediate realization of the plywood mill investment is not proceeding accoding to the original plan. Nevertheless, making it to the priority list is an extremely significant thing for the future of Koskisen Russian operations.

According to Alanne, Koskisilva's delivery reliability and in the long run also competitive strength are significantly enhanced due to own harvesting.

- As soon as the economy will start rising again the importance of own harvesting is emphasized also in timber assortment exchange with other wood industry companies in Russia, says Alanne.