2018 International Forest Industries IFI June July 2018 Digital | Page 29
LUMBER PROCESSING NEWS
BSW announces €40m investment plans
BSW Timber, the UK’s leading
integrated forestry and timber
company, has announced its latest
investment of €40m in Slovenia,
constructing a new sawmill, CHP
plant and pellet manufacturing
facility which will see the creation
of 170 new jobs.
Representatives from BSW,
including CEO Tony Hackney,
were in Slovenia , Tuesday 22nd
May to sign a Memorandum of
Understanding for their ambitious
development plans, together
with their partners Government
of The Republic of Slovenia, The
Slovenian Forest Agency and
other stakeholders to launch the
investment.
The investment will see the
construction on three sites,
including a modern sawmill in
Gomilsko with state-of-the-art
wood processing technology, the
development of pellet production
and wood biomass cogeneration at
the Šoštanj site, and a final site in
Letuš will focus on the production
of value added products.
Tony Hackney, Chief Executive
at BSW Timber, said: “After seeing
the success of our Latvian sawmill
we were keen to explore new
opportunities within The EU.
“Slovenia has some of the
best forests in The EU and a
largely undeveloped processing
sector. We are delighted to be
working alongside the Slovenian
government to increase the
competitiveness of the country’s
timber supply chain, in line with
their ‘Wood is Beautiful’ strategy.
“With the developing wood
shortages in UK, Slovenia is a very
attractive country for us to invest
in. The Slovenian Government
has agreed a 15-year long term
contract for 120,000 cubic metres
of roundwood which will be
backed up by supply from a very
supportive private sector while
working with domestic sawmills.”
The location of the new mill
was decided following an extensive
study completed by BSW and
Tilhill Forestry, part of the BSW
Group, and the Slovenian Forestry
Institute.
Alexander Brownlie, BSW’s
Commercial Director and Chairman
of BSW SI, continued: “The site in
Gomilsko is the ideal location for
our new sawmill, providing us with
access to high quality raw material,
a good history of timber processing
as well as the added advantage of
the site’s geographical location,
very good road links and with the
Port of Koper offering excellent
export links.”
The new sawmill will have the
capacity to process an annual
input in excess of 300,000m 3
sawlogs, making it the largest mill
in Slovenia. Its products will be
available for the Slovenian market,
however BSW plans to build on
its successful Latvian marketing
model and predominantly export
to international markets, such
as UK, Southern Europe, North
Africa, North America and Asia.
Co-products from the Gomilsko
mill will be transferred to Šoštanj
where the Company will invest
in CHP capacity and pellet
manufacturing.
Mr Hackney added: “From our
Tony Hackney, BSW CEO
experience, every direct job at BSW
goes on to create an additional
five across a range of relating
industries, such as harvesting and
logistics. This would mean that
from our 170 new roles, up to 850
additional jobs could be created
across Slovenia.
“We are really excited about
the new development, and look
forward to a successful future,
building relationships with
suppliers, stockists and the timber
professionals in Slovenia over the
coming years.”
BSW is set to begin
construction in September 2018,
with the aim to start production in
early 2020.
SCREW TECHNOLOGY
the new generation of log handling systems
www.springer.eu
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