CHINA (News release) -- Ilim Group signed an agreement with Xiamen C&D Corporation, one of its key partners, on pulp and paperboard supply to the provinces in Southwest China via the Silk Road. As agreed, SW pulp will be supplied to paper mills in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, as well as to Chongqing direct-administered municipality.

This project will allow Ilim Group to increase its export volumes significantly as part of the Belt and Road transportation and logistics system (the Silk Road). By 2024 Ilim Group plans to deliver to Southwest China up to 300 thousand tons of pulp and 180 thousand tons of paperboard per year.

Implementation of Ilim's investment program will allow to satisfy the growing demand for tissue and packaging materials. By 2025, Ilim Group will increase aggregate output of its mills by 1 million tons of finished products. Construction of a new pulp and paperboard mill in Ust-Ilimsk with a capacity of 600 thousand tons is one of Ilim's key projects which will be completed in 2022. Proximity of its Siberian Mills to China gives Ilim another competitive advantage.

Xiamen C&D Corporation is a Chinese state-owned multibusiness corporation involved in wholesale trade, logistics, investment, real estate, tourism and hotel businesses.

Ilim Group is the largest manufacturer of pulp and paper products in Russia, and one of the largest suppliers of softwood pulp to China.