MINSK, 20 July (BelTA) – Chairman of the Belarusian timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industry concern Bellesbumprom Mikhail Kasko has made a few comments to describe import substitution progress in the pulp and paper industry, BelTA has learned.
Mikhail Kasko said: “When the industry was being modernized, we set out to achieve several goals. Import substitution was one of them. Summing up results of H1 2022, we can say that we are even ahead of the goals set by the import substitution program. In the last few years we increased our presence in various niches, including the pulp and paper industry.”
Facilities for manufacturing pulp, cardboard, sanitary and hygienic products, and printed products have been commissioned and are being upgraded now. “We used to import paper folders. We make them in Belarus now using our own cardboard. We had to import certain sanitary and hygienic products (diapers for children and adults) because we didn’t have pulp of our own. Now we develop this business domestically. And we persistently move forward in every sphere like that and supply consumers with Belarusian products,” the official stressed.
Speaking about Bellesbumprom enterprises as a whole, the official noted they made $415 million worth of import substitutes in H1 2022, 24% up from the original target.