Ilim Group signs new strategic partnership agreements with Chinese companies

This step will ensure system-based deliveries of pulp and paper products and will further strengthen Ilim’s positions in the Chinese market.

Ilim Group has signed two trilateral strategic partnership agreements with Shanghai High Hope Pulp and Paper, with the third parties to these agreements being Hengan Group and Mudanjiang Heng Feng Paper, which consume Ilim’s pulp and paperboard to produce their own P&P products.

The largest service operator Shanghai High Hope Pulp and Paper Corporation has been Ilim’s partner for more than 10 years. Over this period, purchase volumes exceeded 1 million tons.

Hengan Group business assets are located in Central and South China and Mudanjiang Heng Feng Paper plant is situated in Northeast China (Heilongjiang province). New agreements signed with these long-standing partners imply further increase in deliveries, optimization of production process and product export to the Chinese market as well as customer service improvement.

“Signing of such agreements with the largest Chinese companies will help to expand cooperation between Russia and China in the P&P industry as well as to increase the turnover between our countries. Ilim Group has been operating in the Chinese market for 25 years and it continues to build a long-term partnership based on mutual trust and support”, commented Alexander Lykhin, Vice-President, Asia, head of the representative office of JSC Ilim Group in China.

“The partnership between our companies is continuously evolving, our friendship becomes stronger and I am confident that this trend will continue. Strategic partnership agreement signed with end customers will allow to continue our cooperation, which will help our companies to score a success”, said Bi Jinbiao, President of Shanghai High Hope Pulp and Paper Corporation.

Xu Qingchi, President, Supply Chain, Hengan Group emphasized that signing of the agreement is a strategic step towards business development and improvement of cooperation between the stakeholders: “It will help to keep a stable high quality of products as well as services involving delivery of products to the mills. At the same time, such close cooperation at all production stages from harvesting operations to packaging manufacturing will allow to cultivate the values that are currently considered to be a priority, including environmental friendliness, sustainable development of the business and carbon footprint reduction”.

Li Yingchun, CEO of Mudanjiang Heng Feng Paper, said that over more than 20 year of its partnership with Ilim Group, the company had seen improvement of cooperation efficiency and logistics services as well as growth of delivery volumes. “Professionalism and experience of the team of High Hope Pulp and Paper Corporation, which has been a service operator working with Ilim and Mudanjiang Heng Feng Paper, contribute significantly to this success”, emphasized Li Yingchun.

About ILIM Group

Ilim Group is the leader in the Russian pulp and paper industry and one of the industry leaders globally. Ilim Group is at the forefront of the Russian pulp and paper industry in terms of production volumes and operating efficiency. Ilim is the largest investor in the Russian forest industry. The Company ranks 3rd in Europe and 10th globally in terms of market pulp production volumes.