Forest products

Ruukki Group, a Finland-based company that focuses on wood-based industrial business operations, has scrapped its plans to build a large pulp mill and sawmill in the Kostroma Oblast in Russia. reports Helsingin Sanomat..The company did not accept the contract changes requested by the Kostroma authorities and decided to pull out of the project. 
Ruukki is accusing the Kostroma local administration of contract violations and plans to seek damages in a local court of first instance.
     

Paper and packaging group Mondi expects to continue to deliver a strong performance in the last quarter of the year, but warned that the continued strengthening of emerging market currencies was impacting on the competitiveness of some of the group’s businesses.

The group, led by CEO David Hathorn, on Monday indicated in an interim management statement that its underlying profit for the third quarter of the year, ended September 30, had been the highest so far, this year.

There are no signs that the planned Russian timber duty increase to 50 euros per cubic meter from 1 January 2011 will be postponed said the Swedish Minister for Trade Ewa Björling when she spoke to the Swedish news agency Direkt.

Wood chip indices are well suited for forest and energy companies who can use price indices for benchmarking and for the financial community, which can use the Indices as price risk management tools.

The forest industry in China is continuing its expansion, and with limited domestic timber resources, importation of logs and wood chips are at an all-time high, especially as tight supply of domestic logs has increased local log prices to new highs.