Life begins at 40

It will be the 40th anniversary for the biennial show, which in 2012 attracted 10,070 visitors.

The October 20-23 event is billed as the largest show of its kind in Russia, eastern Europe and the CIS.

It is organised by Expocentre and the Union of Timber Manufacturers and Exporters, supported by the Russian government and the European Federation of Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers (Eumabois).

LesDrevMash covers equipment for the logging industry; primary processing of timber and wood based products; secondary processing systems and tooling; surface finishing; furniture production; and bioenergy.

This year, more than 500 exhibitors will attend, 60% of whom are non-Russian, spread over 45,000m2 of gross display space. Some of the largest names in wood based panel manufacturing will be present, including Dieffenbacher, Siempelkamp and Imal-Pal.

Nikolay Ivanov, vice-president of the Union of Timber Manufacturers and Exporters, told WBPI that he expected visitor numbers to be at least as good as two years ago.

"The German section of the exhibitors is traditionally very big," said Mr Ivanov.

"We need equipment for OSB, MDF and particleboard mills for additional domestic processing capacity.

"There is a big potential for furniture in Russia. Furniture imports were worth US$3.5bn last year and domestic furniture production is worth US$3bn. There is room for another five to seven plants.

"Over the last 15 years, there has been a great increase in investment in the forestry, panels, plywood, pulp and lumber industries.

"Last October saw Russia's first large-scale OSB mill launched by DOK Kalevala in Karelia province (200,000m3 capacity); and Krono Group's OSB mill near Moscow will start-up soon.

"These two mills will cover all Russia's imports of OSB," said Mr Ivanov. Currently, Russian imports of OSB total about 500,000m3.

"There are at least four more projects for OSB mills in Russia, so if the current situation continues, then in two years, Russia will be producing about 2.3 million m3 of OSB."

Big forest sector developments in Russia include the Forest Code (2007), Russian government decree no419 relating to priority investment projects, and the government's Forest Policy document (2013).

The priority investment decree is designed to help develop and modernise Russia's forestry sector. Priority status projects can bypass auctions to lease forests, with a 50% discount off standard federal leasing costs.

"If you talk about plywood and boards, there have been lots of projects following this decree," said Mr Ivanov. "In the forestry and woodworking industries as a whole, from 2008 until today, there have been 130 projects, worth about US$13bn."

But current production levels across the forestry and woodworking industries are still just 54% of production levels in 1991, when the Soviet Union crumbled.

The level of wood harvesting in 1991 was 350 million m3, but last year it was less than 200 million m3. "That figure will probably go up, but there is the question of infrastructure and roads needed for new mills," said the vice-president.

"I do not think there will be big growth of GDP in Russia this year. The 2014 forecast is for 0.2-0.4% growth, but the latest figures suggest it will be 0.1%."

And Mr Ivanov says there is some future uncertainty due to the situation in Ukraine: "Getting financing from western banks for Russian mill projects is maybe more difficult."

He also questioned whether export insurance for machinery to Russia was harder.

"Everyone is watching the situation."

In terms of LesDrevMash exhibitors, Siempelkamp has a strong business relationship with Russia and the CIS. From Belarus to the Ukraine, Siempelkamp can count 22 installations for particleboard, MDF and OSB and it designed and built a large knife-ring flaker - 20m long and 7.80m wide - for the Kalevala OSB plant.

The company will promote its "all from a single source" concept, from planning to the finished plant, as well as the EcoFormer SL wind former, designed to provide higher forming accuracy of the surface layer during particleboard production. New filter and resin application/blending systems to reduce process relevant emission sources, as well as emissions from products, will also feature.

Italian company Imal-Pal Group will be promoting its DynaSteam pre-press which injects saturated steam into the mat, resulting in increased press throughput.

Its other technologies being highlighted are the FBC100 for monitoring 100% of the board's surface for blisters and/or delamination defects and Pal's Cyclops, which removes pollutants in particle preparation.

North American exhibitor USNR, a sawmill and plywood machinery producer, has sales offices in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Recently, it formed a new company - USNR Rus-Service Ltd - in Krasnoyarsk, offering Russian customers improved service and support as well as the convenience of doing business in Russian rubles.

Russian plywood producer Midway United Ltd's Sosnovoborsk mill features two of USNR's complete Coe lathe systems and four of USNR's Coe veneer dryers.