Alexander Lukashenko to assess performance of woodworking industry in H1

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko intends to give his assessment of the performance of the woodworking industry after the H1 results are made available. He made this statement when talking to reporters during his visit to Vitebskdrev company.

It is too early to make any conclusions. To analyze the situation we need to see the dynamics and tendencies, he said.

When speaking about the course of implementation of his instructions to develop the woodworking industry, the President said he was not sure how to assess it. “If we speak about Vitebskdrev than it is bad. We had plans to start a new facility to make MDFs. Yet nothing is ready, a site was not vacated, no contracts were signed. The plans were to get the construction of 13 facilities started. The funding has been allotted, yet no results have been produced.

He noted that despite lower production figures in comparison with other enterprises, Vitebskdrev is not working worse. The current situation is attributed to the seasonality of demand for the company’s products. Apart from that, the sales prospects are quite promising. According to the director of the enterprise, about 50 contracts have already been signed to sell the products abroad. Despite the global drop in prices, the company intends to maintain its profitability at the level of 5-6%

The Vitebskdrev Company is a diversified woodworking enterprise which also produces various wood boards. For the past five years, the company has been boosting the production and export. In 2008, the production increased 15% as against 2007; the profitability of the sold products was up 14%. The main customers of the company are Belarusian enterprises. A significant part of the output is exported to Russia, other CIS and foreign countries. Vitebskdrev has an ISO 9000 quality management system. The company constantly develops new kinds of products. In 2008, Vitebskdrev launched the production of moisture resistant chipboards and expanded the line of wooden pallets.